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Task force commander leaves for Pentagon

Feb-26-2005 » Filed Under: TF Olympia

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MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune

Brig. Gen. Carter Ham’s first and only assignment at Fort Lewis didn’t last long. He was here four months before the Army shipped him off to Mosul, Iraq, last January.

But he played a major part in the fortunes of Fort Lewis troops, thousands of whom worked under his leadership in northern Iraq the past 13 months.

The post held a ceremony to say farewell Friday to the 53-year-old commander of Task Force Olympia, who’s back from Iraq but on his way now to a new job at the Pentagon.

Ham will be “deputy director for regional operations to the joint staff,” a liaison between U.S. Central Command and the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs. Centcom, located at MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Fla., is responsible for combat operations in Central Asia and the Middle East.

Maj. Gen. Jimmie Collins, the deputy Fort Lewis commander, pinned him with a Bronze Star medal and praised him as “dedicated, committed, a team player, a war fighter without rival.”

A self-effacing Army general is a rare thing, but Ham joked with well-wishers that he thought Collins must’ve been talking about someone else.

“This past year has been the defining period of my life,” he said. “There have been triumphs and tragedies both large and small.”


Comments For "Task force commander leaves for Pentagon":

General Ham is one of the best people I've ever served with. Typically, generals are egotistical and want another star. But not Carter F. Ham. All he ever cared about was completing the mission and taking care of soldiers. He could tell you about soldiers he spent one day with. He is very genuine and deserves whatever opportunities come his way. He's not like your average generals; he's very human.

Posted by: bob | February 26, 2005 2:04 PM

Maybe General Ham would like to explain to the families of the men killed in the Mosul messhall just which lapse of good security sense allowed that Iraqi into the messhall. If the good General did not set the security policy, who did?

Posted by: Spike | June 21, 2005 11:44 AM

Gen. Ham (or Major Ham when I knew him)
was a man of honor through and through. I was his S3 Operations clerk at Ft. Irwin from 86-88. I have since earned a Ph.D. in psychology and I have never met a man who I trusted more. I hope he sees this or someone can get him this message.

Peter Koehn, Ph.D.

Posted by: Peter M. Koehn | August 10, 2005 3:45 PM

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