FORT RILEY, Kan. – A ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday at Fort Riley’s Cavalry Parade Field will honor the outgoing leaders of the 1st Infantry Division’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, welcome the “Dagger” brigade’s new
commander and senior noncommissioned officer and see the uncasing of the 2nd ABCT’s colors, officially signifying the brigade’s return home after a nine-month mission to Kuwait.

Col. Miles Brown, commander of the Dagger brigade, and Command Sgt. Maj. Larry Orvis Jr., the brigade’s senior noncommissioned officer, will transfer command of the brigade to Col. Dave Garner and Command Sgt. Maj. Craig A. Copridge at the ceremony.

Brown took command of the 2nd ABCT in June 2014. His next assignment is as
the chief of staff for the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado.
Orvis became the 2nd ABCT’s senior noncommissioned officer in November 2014.
His next assignment is at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Garner’s previous assignment was at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he
served on the faculty of the School of Advanced Military Studies. This is
his first assignment within the 1st Inf. Div. Copridge’s previous assignment
was as the senior noncommissioned officer for 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry
Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, at Fort
Stewart, Georgia.

While deployed, the Dagger brigade assumed responsibility of the theater
security cooperation and partnership mission within the Central Command area
of responsibility. Through bilateral exercises and training exchanges,
Dagger Soldiers displayed commitment in increasing partner capacity while
fostering professional and personal relationships in the region to reaffirm
support for long-term sustainment of security and stability in the region.

The brigade’s Soldiers began returning to Fort Riley in June.