JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
More than 400 in-person and virtual guests attended the Mission and Installation Contracting Command change of command ceremony on June 7 in front of the historic Long Barracks at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
Maj. Gen. Douglas Lowrey relinquished command to Col. Freddy Adams in the ceremony officiated by Brig. Gen. Christine Beeler, the commanding general for the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.
Before the change of command ceremony, Beeler presented Lowrey the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of his duties while in command.
During the ceremony, the MICC colors were passed from the keeper of the colors, the senior enlisted adviser, Command Sgt. Maj. Jason Gusman, to the outgoing commander, who then passed them to the ACC commander, who subsequently passed them to the incoming commander to symbolize the change in leadership. Gusman received the colors back from Adams as his first act of loyalty to the new commander. Attendees also enjoyed ceremonial music played by the 323d Army Band and an invocation from U.S. Army retired Chaplain (Col.) John Read.
The ACC commanding general, who also preceded Lowrey in command at the MICC from July 2019 to May 2021 before ascending to command ACC in June 2021, and will relinquish command of ACC to him in a ceremony next week, reflected on the full-circle moment.
“Gen. Lowrey, it was three years ago that I passed the colors to you,” Beeler began, saying he effortlessly made the most of the opportunity in the important command.
She explained that his leadership and guidance for members of the MICC was simple and effective: lead, follow or get out of the way.
“Team MICC thrived under your leadership style and your leadership ability. That enabled them to drive efficiencies and improvements across Army installations that supported recruiting, training and quality of life programs for our Soldiers, our Army families and our great Army civilian workforce.”
Beeler went on to list the various accomplishments enjoyed by the MICC brigades and field directorate offices under Lowrey’s tenure, “which really ensured that our contracts provided all the capabilities to support current and evolving training, preparedness and power projection requirements so that the Army was ready to meet its national defense requirements, and win.”
In fiscal 2023, the MICC executed more than 24,000 contracts valued at more than $5.5 billion. MICC contracts feed more than 200,000 Soldiers daily, provide countless daily base operations and installation support services, prepare more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, train more than 500, 000 students each year and maintain more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures.
She especially lauded Lowrey’s people-focused programs including the MICC intern program and MICC contract leaders and master gunner programs. “Your unwavering advocacy for the Army’s most valuable resource, its people, was evident in the initiatives aimed at enhancing morale, recruitment and retention within the MICC.”
During his remarks, Lowrey thanked Beeler for her equally effective leadership style as the ACC commander and elaborated on what made him most proud of the MICC team during his command. As an underscore to Beeler’s acknowledgment of his hiring, recruitment, people development and retention efforts, he recalled how his personnel team helped him develop an aggressive plan to hire at least 300 people in the three years; a plan his subordinate commanders and directors helped effectively execute.
“Over the last three years we hired over 30% of our current workforce and have less than 10% attrition, with manning levels over 94%,” Lowrey said.
He used the remainder of his brief remarks to further detail multiple successes his team helped him achieve, to exemplify what he called the “winning spirit” that is prevalent across the command.
“That winning spirit is what moves and motivates me to this day,” Lowrey said. “That, ladies and gentlemen, is the MICC. No matter what, no matter how hard or uncomfortable or personally taxing – they find a way to win.”
Addressing his successor directly, Lowrey said, “Freddy, this is the spirit that you have taken command of today.”
Adams most recently served as the chief of staff and senior military assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. He previously commanded the Defense Contract Management Agency in Afghanistan; Defense Contracting Management Agency in Florida; and the 409th Contract Support Brigade in Germany. Other notable staff positions include his service as director of Army contracting and the military deputy to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Procurement in Washington, D.C.; chief plans officer for the 410th CSB at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston; and the executive officer to the commanding general at the MICC.
Beeler welcomed the new commander back to the MICC and ACC family. “You are poised and ready to lead the men and women of the Mission and Installation Contracting Command as they continue to win every day,” Beeler told Adams. “I have no doubt that you will build on the people, readiness and modernization program efforts that have been stood up and are executing really well; you will continue to improve all of that.”
Adams began his remarks as the eighth commander of the MICC by thanking Beeler for hosting the ceremony, the opportunity to lead the MICC and the principled leadership she showed during her tenure as the MICC and ACC commander. He also acknowledged the impact Lowrey will continue to have on the MICC when he assumes command of the ACC.
“I am deeply grateful for this opportunity, and I pledge to uphold the standards of excellence that you established,” Adams told Beeler. “I commit to both you and Major General Lowrey that all of the challenges facing our contracting enterprise will be met with all the commitment and energy that I can muster.”
Adams has served the Army for more than 26 years, earning his commission as an Armor Officer upon his graduation in May 1998 from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He also earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin, is a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College and was a distinguished graduate of the National Defense University Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy.
To close his remarks, Lowrey told Adams that he was gaining an outstanding team in the members of the MICC. He wished Adams and his family the best in their move back to San Antonio and as “you take this command to what I trust will be even greater heights.”
Lowrey departs the MICC to assume command of ACC at Redstone Arsenal from Beeler during a June 14 ceremony.
Headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, 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, facilitating 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.