Fort Bragg garrison welcomes new command sergeant major

The Fort Bragg garrison has a new senior enlisted leader.

Command Sgt. Maj. William Lohmeyer was welcomed to the post during an assumption of command ceremony in the atrium of the 18th Airborne Corps headquarters on Friday.

Loymeyer replaced Command Sgt. Maj. Eric McCray, who left Fort Bragg in late June to become the senior enlisted leader for the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command at Fort Shafter, Hawaii.

McCray was the garrison command sergeant major since February.

Lohmeyer, who most recently served at Fort Knox, Kentucky, arrived at Fort Bragg last month.

“Actually when I came down on assignment for this job, there were about three guys in my office and (they) were like, ‘Man you’re going to love that place,'” Lohmeyer said.

This is his first assignment at Fort Bragg, but it is not his first time as a garrison commander. From 2014 to 2016, he served as the garrison command sergeant major at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

“I feel like I have an advantage to where I already know what the directorates are supposed to do. So I can immediately jump and start focusing on Fort Bragg itself, ” Lohmeyer said, adding he also brings a new perspective since it’s his first time at Bragg. 

The garrison command supports soldiers and families on post and manages the day-to-day operations of the nation's largest military installation.

Lohmeyer will work with deputy garrison commander Justin Mitchell and support Col. Kyle Reed, Fort Bragg's garrison commander.

Reed said Lohmeyer brings 27 years of experience that has helped prepare him for his new job.

Lohmeyer, who has spent most of his career as an artilleryman, has served in every position of a Howitzer crew and was a drill sergeant at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He has deployed multiple times in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Now, Lohmeyer said he looks forward to working with other Fort Bragg leaders to support the installation's soldiers and families.

He also looks forward to working with the civilians who comprise the bulk of the garrison workforce.

“Already I’ve met people on this installation who bleed Fort Bragg,” Lohmeyer said. “It is such a passion, and I notice this a lot especially with the civilian workforce — the ones that have either retired or served on the installation, and now they’re now working as civilians.”

From civilian teachers, employees at the shoppettes, cooks or those with the Army’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation programs, Lohmeyer said one of the things he learned at Fort Rucker was that the civilians “take care of the soldier.”

That care is reflected in interactive customer evaluation comments soldiers provide as feedback for services, he said.

“So I think that's what gives me the most gratification of this job, is just knowing that my workforce is out there every day, giving their 100 percent taking care of some young paratrooper,” he said. "I look forward to working with the community and want to make Fort Bragg a better place."

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.