The U.S. Army Reserve bid farewell to one of its

The U.S. Army Reserve bid farewell to one of its southeastern regional public affairs leaders Sunday, Aug. 16 and welcomed another in Birmingham, Ala.Lt. Col. Stephen G. Harlan, of New Jersey, concluded his command of the 314th Press Camp Headquarters, based in Birmingham, Ala., where he has served for the past year to command public affairs assets throughout the region, under the New Jersey-based 99th Regional Support Command. The outgoing commander oversaw the press camp headquarters during a major transition period in U.S. Reserve public affairs operations to two regional coverage models — one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast.Harlan, a fulltime historian for the 99th RSC, played a critical role in managing the transition of Army Reserve public affairs assets in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as ongoing missions abroad to places like Eastern Europe in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve.“In all that has changed and all that has not, one of the constants has been the exceptional leadership (Lt. Col. Harlan has) provided across his command,” said Brig. Gen. Gregory J. Mosser, deputy commanding general for the 99th RSC.The incoming unit commander, Lt. Col. J. Mark Baucom, took charge of the unit during a change of command ceremony held at the Vulcan Park Museum located on Red Mountain, which overlooks downtown Birmingham. Baucom joins the unit from his position as the public affairs directorate for the 108th Training Command (Individual Entry Training) based in Charlotte, N.C. He brings an extensive background in U.S. Army public affairs having previously served as the administrative officer for the 300th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment in 2002 at Fort McPherson, Ga., the commander for the 317th Military History Detachment in 2004 in Bagram, Afghanistan, and the commander of the 343rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment during its deployment to Basra, Iraq, in 2008.