JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
The Army chief of staff announced Feb. 23 the selection of the commanding general for the Mission and Installation Contracting Command as the next leader of the Army Contracting Command and identified the next MICC senior leader.
Brig. Gen. Christine Beeler will assume command of ACC at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, from Maj. Gen. Paul Pardew in the coming months while Brig. Gen. Douglas Lowrey will take command of the MICC. Lowrey is coming to the MICC from Redstone Arsenal where he serves as the commanding general of the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command.
Beeler has served as the MICC senior leader since July 2019 and has guided the command through its acquisition standardization efforts with category management, forging strategic alliances with supported mission partners as well as postured contingency contracting support in the Army’s response to the pandemic.
Lowrey has led USASAC since August 2020 after serving as the director of contracting for the office of the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology in Washington. USASAC leads the Army Materiel Command security assistance enterprise, develops and manages security assistance programs and Foreign Military Sales cases to build partner capacity, supports combatant command engagement strategies, and strengthens U.S. global partnerships.
Command of the MICC will mark the fourth assignment of the incoming commanding general to the organization. He has served as a contingency contracting officer at Fort Hood, Texas, in the MICC’s legacy organization, the Army Contracting Agency, from December 2004 to December 2005. He next served as the executive officer for the 901st Contracting Support Battalion from June 2006 to June 2008 before returning to the 901st CBN at Fort Hood in June 2010 to serve as commander until July 2013. His operational assignments include deployments in support of Operation New Dawn, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Intrinsic Action.
Lowrey was commissioned as an Infantry Officer in 1994 after graduating from Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma Reserve Officer Training Corps. He was promoted to brigadier general in September 2020, making the Oklahoma native of Cherokee descent the only Native American general officer on active duty.
Headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, the Mission and Installation Contracting Command consists of about 1,500 military and civilian members who are responsible for contracting goods and services in support of Soldiers as well as readying trained contracting units for the operating force and contingency environment when called upon.
As part of its mission, MICC contracts are vital in feeding more than 200,000 Soldiers every day, providing many daily base operations support services at installations, facilitate training in the preparation of more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, training more than 500,000 students each year, and maintaining more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures.