Commander NATO CIS Group General Walter Huhn,  (centre) with Lieutenant Colonel James Dooley (right),  accepting command from Lieutenant Colonel John Hinkel (left).  Photo by 9 Stormo Wing Public Affairs Office 

GRAZZANISE, Italy - A Change of Command ceremony was held on Tuesday, Apr. 4, 2017 at the 2nd NATO Signal Battalion in Grazzanise, Italy.

Lieutenant Colonel John Hinkel handed over command to his successor, Lieutenant Colonel James Dooley, following a three year tenure.

Commander NATO CIS Group General Walter Huhn, in his remarks, commended Lieutenant Colonel Hinkel for his personal commitment to NATO and outstanding leadership as well as for having "forged the Gladiators of 2nd NSB into a great team, a strong team" and for "leaving a legacy of improvements" to them.

In his speech, Hinkel emphasised the achievements in the last three years, which deserve more recognition than he can express. "It has been my privilege to command 2nd NATO Signal Battalion for nearly three years", he said. The Lieutenant Colonel went on to say he wished he was better able to verbalize the outstanding commitment and professionalism of the members of the battalion.

The new Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Dooley will have to face several challenges in his tenure to fulfill the demanding tasks assigned, to begin with the preparation for CIS support to the eNRF 2018 to demonstrate, one more time, NATO's resolve to defend its Allies.

The NATO CIS Group, established in 2012, is the largest organisation within ACO and provides all NATO deployable CIS capabilities during operations and exercises. It is structured in the HQ, located at SHAPE, and three NATO Signal Battalions, which in turn encompass six Deployable CIS Modules each, located in 14 European Countries.