With the military band playing the Army song, Lt. Col. Erica Ingram on Saturday accepted the battalion colors of the Arkansas Army National Guard's 871st Troop Command -- a unit she will lead in August.
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About 200 people packed into the Fisher National Guard Armory in North Little Rock for a ceremony shifting command from Lt. Col. Dwight Ikenberry to Ingram, who previously served as an administrative officer for the Arkansas National Guard's 87th Troop Brigade.
As commander of the 871st, which is based at Camp Robinson, Ingram will oversee seven companies of about 700 guardsmen who provide support to combat battalions.
"Each of our units has a different mission but all are support companies," Ingram said Saturday. "One of my passions is soldier care, and being battalion commander I will get the opportunity to provide true soldier care at the unit level. Taking care of my soldiers will then allow them to provide top-level support."
Ingram, 41, is the first black woman to assume command of an Arkansas National Guard battalion -- including the Army National Guard and Air National Guard, said Lt. Col. Matt Snead, Arkansas National Guard spokesman.
The 871st is the headquarters unit for the 106th Army Band, 119th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, 213th Area Support Medical Company, 224th Maintenance Company, 296th Medical Company and the 1123rd Transportation Company, all of which had representatives at the ceremony Saturday.
One more of the battalion's units, the 216th Military Police Company, is at Fort Bliss in Texas preparing for deployment to Afghanistan. The company's 110 soldiers left Arkansas in May and will spend six months overseas.
"It was great to see them along from that first alert notice up through last week, when we visited them at Fort Bliss before they mobilize," Ikenberry said. "Seeing that from start to finish is a great feeling as a commander."
Ikenberry, 45, is relinquishing his command to become an operations officer at the Fort Chaffee Maneuver Training Center, a National Guard installation about 25 miles away from his home and family in Van Buren. During a brief farewell speech Saturday, Ikenberry said the battalion faced challenges during his two years as commander, referencing the uncertainty regarding the Defense Department's budget and the government shutdown in 2013.
Going into her term as commander, which is effective Aug. 1, Ingram is anticipating more of the same.
"In the last 10 years, we've gotten accustomed to plentiful resources," Ingram said. "We're going to have to get used to doing the same level of support with less. That is going to be quite a challenge."
Ingram, who lives with her family in Little Rock, was born in Wilmar and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 1995. She served as a second lieutenant in the United States Army for almost five years before joining the Arkansas Army National Guard in 1999. Since then, Ingram has served in various positions in five units of the Arkansas Army National Guard.
Brig. Gen. Patricia Anslow, who in 2013 became the Arkansas National Guard's first female general officer, was in attendance at Saturday's ceremony. Anslow has known Ingram since their early days in the Guard, and she was one of the officers who recommended Ingram for the position.
"I am so proud of her," Anslow said Saturday. "She's a great role model to so many, and she's going to do wonderful things."
Metro on 07/13/2014