A veteran of the chemical demilitarization program assumed command of the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot at a June 29 ceremony.
“As we welcome the incoming commander, Col. Rodney McCutcheon, it’s important for all of you to understand that as commander at Blue Grass Chemical Activity, Col. McCutcheon played a critical role in the successful start of agent destruction operations in Kentucky in 2019,” said Kelso Horne III, director, U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity.
Horne presided over a ceremony with military and community leaders in attendance on the Depot Parade Grounds to welcome McCutcheon to Colorado.
“Not only had he accounted perfectly for every chemical weapon in storage, he brought key stakeholders together to synchronize and negotiate the best path forward,” Horne said of the new depot commander.
McCutcheon, the depot’s 40th commander, comes to this post after finishing the Army War College at the Joint Advanced Warfighting School at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. He holds a Master of Science in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Master of Science in Environmental Management from Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri; and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from South Carolina State University, Orangeburg.
“To the extraordinary Pueblo Chemical Depot workforce…You are world-class performers, and I thank God and thank you all for the great work that you’ve done here,” McCutcheon said in his welcoming remarks. “You delivered every munition to the plant,” he said, allowing the United States to fulfill its Chemical Weapons Convention international treaty obligations.
