FORT RILEY, Kansas – The 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley will bid farewell to Command Sgt. Maj. Michael A. Grinston, the division’s senior
noncommissioned officer, during a Victory with Honors ceremony Sept. 25.

The ceremony, which will include the 1st Infantry Division Band, the Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard and the firing of ceremonial
cannons, will also serve as a change of responsibility ceremony as the “Big
Red One” welcomes Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph Cornelison, who will assume Grinston’s responsibilities as part of the 1st Inf. Div. command team.

Grinston is the 1st Inf. Div.’s 23rd senior noncommissioned officer,
assuming responsibility on Oct. 25, 2013. He previously served with the Big
Red One as a first sergeant in the 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery
Regiment, deploying in 2004 with his company for 12 months in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Grinston joined Maj. Gen. Paul E. Funk II to deploy with the division
headquarters, which formed the core of Combined Joint Forces Land Component
Command-Iraq, from October 2014 to July. The command was responsible for
advising and assisting Iraq’s security forces and providing training to
newly built Iraqi army units as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. The Big
Red One handed over command of CJFLCC-I to the 82nd Airborne Division in
June in Baghdad, Iraq.

Cornelison is from Tunnel Hill, Georgia, and previously served as the top
enlisted Soldier of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry
Division, at Fort Hood, Texas.