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***image1***The 415th Base Support Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Erik Daiga believes in letting his experts do their job.
“I trust their expertise so I see my position as commander as having the command vision, giving my staff a little guidance and then letting them execute, said Colonel Daiga, who took command of the 415th BSB in August 2004.
“Being new to the base operations business, the last thing I want to do is micro-manage my base operations experts in their respective fields.”
More than 800 Soldiers and Department of Army civilians work at the battalion providing customer service to enhance the readiness and quality of life within the KMC.
It’s these employees who support families while their Soldier spouses are deployed or redeploying.
“I’ve spent most of my Army career as an intelligence officer in every echelon of the Army far removed from base operations,” said Colonel Daiga, who served three years as an enlisted Soldier before being selected for the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School, Fort Benning, Ga. He was commissioned as a military intelligence officer in 1987.
“I took it for granted that the service facilities would be there when my unit deployed and that somebody would be there to support my family,” said Colonel Daiga, who was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995 to 1996 while assigned to the 1st Armored Division in Bad Kreuznach, and to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in 2000 in support of U.S. Army Central Command. “Now, it’s my staff and I who are responsible for that support. The most rewarding part of my job is seeing families reunite, knowing that as a BSB, we did a good job providing family support while the Soldier was deployed.”
Colonel Daiga didn’t travel far to come to the KMC.
His last assignment was a joint tour at U.S. European Command Headquarters in Stuttgart.
“I feel privileged that the Army selected me for this job,” he said. “I think I’m in a great community, and I know I have great directors and staff who make my job very easy.”
