Honoring its history and its fallen, Memorial Park is sacred ground on Fort Drum and walking through it, the 10th Mountain’s newest commander, Brigadier General Milford Beagle, gets a better sense of what exactly it means to not only take command of the division, but the men and women who serve it.

It’s something Beagle says he will never once take lightly. Especially, as his focus shifts from conflict to the unknown.

Beagle expects every 10th Mountain Division soldier to be out of Afghanistan by September.

Then, it’ll have been more than two decades since the most deployed division in the nation, has no place to go. The mission ahead could be anything, but now, it’s to be ready for everything.

“In terms of what I have to do and we have to do on this installation is provide trained, physically fit, disciplined and cohesive units,” Beagle said. “That’s what we’ve been able to replicate and to be able to do that continually, over time and into our future, is exactly where we need to be to remain and maintain our relevance.”

Relevance without deployments will be absolutely critical at a time when budgets are strained. You need to stand out. You want to let Washington know your worth to protect the division, the post and the entire North Country.

“In years’ past, we’ve gone to Somalia. We’ve done things in Haiti. We’ve done things with defense support to civil authorities. We’ve done a bit of everything, and that proves the point that the 10th Mountain Division has been ready for whatever, whenever that our nation has called us to do, not just in the two theaters of Iraq and Afghanistan,” BG Beagle said.

Diverse missions and sacrifices made that are honored on the grounds of Memorial Park, which just happen to sit right across the street from Beagle’s new office. It’s his reminder every day of how to lead and lift up his post, his division, his community and his people.