1st Brigade Combat Team Change of Command, Friday

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - An officer who once commanded a battalion of paratroopers within the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team is returning to Fort Bragg to command the distinguished brigade.

Col. Trevor J. Bredenkamp will assume command of the "Devils in Baggy Pants" from Col. Mark L. Stock in a ceremony scheduled for 10:00 a.m., Dec. 7, at Fort Bragg's Pike Field.

Stock commanded the brigade on its most recent deployment to Afghanistan. The unit's Paratroopers worked hand-in-hand with Afghan National Security Forces in an effort to bring security and stability to the contentious southern Ghazni Province. He is a 1989 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Stock has served in both airborne and mechanized units in his career with multiple deployments to Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a lieutenant colonel, Bredenkamp commanded the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, one of two infantry battalions in the Devil Brigade, during its 2009-10 deployment to western Iraq. Bredenkamp is a 1992 graduate of the United States Military Academy who has served in a variety of positions in the 82nd Airborne Division and has deployed numerous times to Iraq and Afghanistan.  His most recent assignment was as the deputy director of the Soldier for Life Program, Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army.