Leadership on Fort Drum has changed hands. Major General Mark Milley turned over command to incoming Major General Stephen Townsend Monday during the symbolic ceremony. YNN’s Carmella Mataloni tells us what the new Commanding General has in store for Fort Drum.

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FORT FRUM, N.Y. -- After just one year, command is changing hands on Fort Drum.

Hundreds gathered to McGrath Gym on Fort Drum to watch outgoing 10th Mountain Division Commander Major General Mark Milley pass the unit colors to incoming Division Commander Major General Stephen Townsend.

“As proud as I am standing here, as proud as we are bringing in the Townsends, this ceremony is not about the Milleys or the Townsends, it's about those colors and what they represent and about those officers and leaders and noncommissioned officers that you see in front of you,” said Major General Mark Milley.

Major General Milley is leaving to take command of Fort Hood, Texas.

His successor is no stranger to the Fort Drum area. Major General Townsend had two previous tours with the 10th Mountain Division, his latest ending in 2004.

With thousands of soldiers being deployed in the next month, Major General Townsend says there are still things he needs to catch up on in order to prepare.

“Get up to speed with all the deployments that are planned. We have 1st Brigade and 2nd Brigade combat teams are taking specially task organized teams of advisors to Afghanistan to further our nation’s efforts there. Job one is to get up to speed on that,” said Major General Stephen Townsend.

General Townsend has many goals that he hopes to accomplish during this time at Fort Drum. The main one over the next two years is to further help our nation achieve our national objectives in Afghanistan.