JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - The 555th Engineer Brigade will
conduct a Change of Command and Change of Responsibility during a
ceremony scheduled for Thursday, November 10; 10 a.m. at Watkins Field
(Lewis Main).

Col. Michael Brobeck will relinquish command of the brigade to Col.
Nicholas Katers.

Brobeck has served as the commander of the 555th Engineer Bde., or
"Triple Nickel," since November 2009. During his command, he led eight
battalions in three states, commanding more than 4000 troops. Those
battalions include the 14th Engineer Battalion, 864th  Engineer
Battalion at JBLM, the 4th Engineer Battalion and 52nd Engineer
Battalion at Fort Carson, Colo., and the 1st  Engineer Battalion at Fort
Riley, Kansas and administrative responsibility for the 23rd  Chemical
Bn., 110th Chemical Bn., and 3rd Explosive Ordnance Bn., also at JBLM.

Brobeck previously served in Alexandria, Virginia as Chief of the U.S.
Army's Engineer Branch. His next assignment will be at the Pentagon,
where he will serve on the Joint Staff.

Col. Nicholas Katers, The incoming commander, recently graduated from
the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He previously
served as commander of the 84th Engineer Battalion (Construction
Effects) in Hawaii, and deployed with the unit to Iraq, in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Command Sgt. Major Elmo Leichenauer took responsibility of the 555th
Engineer Bde. in October, 2010. He previously served as I Corps' Chief
Engineer Non-Commissioned Officer t JBLM, from 2008 to 2010.

Command Sgt. Major Kevin Bryan, the incoming Command Sergeant Major,
previously served as recent the Brigade Command Sergeant Major for 1st
Engineer Bde., Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.