Kingsport native takes command of 278th

A Kingsport, Tenn., native has been named commander of the Army National Guard's 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment.

Maj. Gen. Terry M. Haston, Tennessee's adjutant general, on Friday named Col. Franklin C. McCauley Jr. to head the regiment.

Many Southeast Tennessee residents serve in the 278th, which deployed in 2004 and 2010 to Iraq.

McCauley now is deputy commander of the regiment. He will replace Col. Jeffrey Holmes, who was named the commander of the 194th Engineer Brigade in Jackson, Tenn., earlier this week.

"Col. McCauley is a combat veteran cavalry officer who has commanded at every level within the regiment," Haston said in a news release. "He brings a great deal of experience and professionalism to the job."

The 278th is Tennessee's largest command, with units stretching from Kingsport to Memphis, and is composed of more than 3,700 soldiers in three maneuver squadrons, a support squadron, a special troops squadron and a fires squadron.

McCauley, a special agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, enlisted in the Tennessee Army National Guard in 1981 and received his commission through the ROTC program at East Tennessee State University in 1983.

He graduated from East Tennessee State University with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 1985 and received his master's in criminal justice in 1987 from Eastern Kentucky University.

His military education includes the Armor Officer Basic Course and Armor Advanced Course in Fort Knox, Ky., the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle Barracks, Pa.

He has been awarded the Bronze Star medal with oak leaf cluster, the Meritorious Service medal with oak leaf cluster, the Army Commendation medal with oak leaf cluster, the Iraqi Campaign medal with two service stars and the Combat Action Badge.

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