Colonel Myles B. Caggins III Retires After 26 Years of Service

 

Major Myles B. Caggins, 1st Armored Division, Camp Adder, Iraq, 2009

On Veteran's Day weekend, 2022, Colonel Myles B. Caggins III retired after 26 years of service.  The ceremony was in Chantilly, Virginia, in front of family, friends, comrades and with full military customs and courtesies, plus some twists. The National Anthem was a saxophone solo by Eddie Baccus Jr. It was a first for me, and it was awesome.

Saxophone Solo National Anthem

by Eddie Baccus Jr.

General Vincent K. Brooks, Retired. presided at the retirement ceremony

Presiding at the retirement ceremony was General Vincent K. Brooks, a 1980 graduate of West Point. He retired in 2019 after 39 years, 17 of those years as a general officer. Brooks was a lot of fun. He said Myles served in the White House in the Bush and Obama administrations, but that the peak of his on-air career was his appearance on Jeopardy! Brooks had the audience laughing again and again describing that Jeopardy! performance.

Major Collin Richards, emcee, and Colonel Myles B. Caggins III, Retired, after the ceremony

In my civilian career, I met a lot of people who were leaders and innovators in science including several Nobel laureates. I heard them accept awards. Those speeches could be divided in two types. The first kind of speech is about just how amazing the speaker is. In the second type, the awardee says Thank You to their family, their teachers, their co-workers, everyone! It was a delight to hear all of the he thanks, some with laughter, there were tears for comrades no longer with us, honor to mentors, and a poem for his Mom. 

Myles thanking his daughter Tiffany Champion

Harry and Tiffany Champion

We met at Camp Adder, Iraq, when he was the Public Affairs Officer for 1st Armored Division. I wrote about Myles in Iraq here. We were able to work together several times on stories about soldiers.  When we were together in Iraq, it was his second combat deployment. In 2003 as a Captain, Myles led a support company during the invasion of Iraq. 

Myles on the day of his promotion to Colonel in 2017

We kept in touch in the dozen years since we both returned from deployment in 2010.  I saw Myles get promoted to Colonel in 2017. That story is here.  Following his promotion, Myles deployed for another full-year combat tour in Iraq and Syria in 2019 and 2020. 

Myles first civilian job will be a continuation of his last active duty assignment working in geopolitics.