NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District commander Col. Stephen Murphy handed the reins to Col. Cullen Jones during a formal change of command ceremony at the district’s headquarters Friday, Sept. 16, 2022.
Jones is the 65th commander in the district’s more than 200 years of serving New Orleans and South Louisiana.
As Murphy prepared his farewell address to the district, he said, “I wanted to have a theme, and that theme is gratitude.”
That gratitude encompasses his family, the district’s employees, and all the local, state, and federal partners that were instrumental in everything the district accomplished during his three years of command, said Murphy.
Murphy’s next assignment is serving as the command engineer for the U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.
Maj. Gen. Diana Holland, Mississippi Valley Division commanding general, praised Murphy for his long list of accomplishments during his three years as the district’s commander and expressed her confidence in Jones to lead the district into the future.
“The Army got it right when it chose these two men for command,” Holland said.
“I am honored to join the premiere team of professionals at the New Orleans District, and I look forward to working with each of you,” Jones said in his first remarks as commander of the New Orleans District.
Jones’s previous assignment was as the chief of staff for the Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq in Baghdad. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and also served as the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District.
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