Brigadier Dave McCammon becomes commander of 3rd Brigade
3rd Brigade has a new commander with a new name taking on the role of North Queensland’s most senior defence officer. See what his plans are here.
Townsville
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Brigadier Dave McCammon is the new commander of Townsville-based 3rd Brigade, returning to North Queensland for the second time in his military career.
The handover ceremony between Brigadier McCammon and Brigadier Kahlil Fegan occurred at Lavarack Barracks on Wednesday.
He takes over from Brigadier Kahlil Fegan who is moving to Canberra after three years as North Queensland’s senior defence officer.
The new Brigadier brings with him a wealth of experience with his previous appointment as Director INDOPAC Operations, Joint Operations Command.
Prior to that other senior roles included Commandant Combined Arms Training Centre (CATC), Director Soldier Career Management (SCMA), senior career adviser SCMA, SO1 Combat in Future Force Development, Army Headquarters and a secondment to the Force Structure Review Team in 2014, as part of the Department’s team that delivered the 2016 Defence White Paper.
Brigadier McCammon has also deployed overseas including to East Timor, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Outgoing 3rd Brigade commander Brigadier Fegan said it was a bittersweet moment handing over command.
During his command the brigade was deployed to help the Australian community fight fire and flood and also the Covid pandemic and troops were also sent overseas to Afghanistan and the Solomon Islands.
“I am a lot sader about leaving the command and Townsville then I thought I would be and I think that speaks volumes for the privilege of being able to work with the men and woman here,” he said.
“But I am also happy to be handing over to a good mate and an extremely capable and well-regarded commander Brigadier Dave McCammon who will come on to the job today and continue to take the brigade in the right direction.
“The wonderful thing about the 3rd Brigade is at the moment it is the highest readiness conventional land force in Australia.”
He said he had been giving the in-coming brigadier plenty of advice for the past several days.
“Already he can see what a wonderful privilege this command is and what a fantastic opportunity to help set the conditions for out men and women every day,” Brigadier Fegan said.
“So when they are called upon by our nation to go into some of the highest risk and complex environments they can so with confidence and they do so in a way that achieves mission success and then they come home.”
Brigadier McCammon said he was excited to taking over the command of 3rd Brigade.
“I have served here before as a young captain and I think there is no better place in Australia or the ADF to get to serve other than the 3rd Brigade,” he said.
“I am fortunate that I am inheriting the brigade that is probably the readiness of any brigade in the army.
“So we will just work to build on that readiness to make sure that we are capable of meeting any contingency that the ADF need us to do.”
He said in the initial days of his new command he would be listening to those around him.
“I have inherited an amazing team I have got great people around me and I will be listening and trying to work out were we go next in terms of making sure we are on the right track.”
Originally published as Brigadier Dave McCammon becomes commander of 3rd Brigade
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