Kathy Stewart, wtop.com

WASHINGTON – Fort Belvoir is getting ready for a changing of the guard as Col. John J. Strycula prepares to step down as commander Thursday. He will be replaced by Col. Greg Gadson, who lost both legs in Iraq in 2007.

“The change of command ceremony is a longstanding Army tradition,” says Don Dees, a spokesman at the Army base.

Strycula has been in charge since July 2010 and oversaw the final phases of the Base Realignment and Closure program.

Gadson will be the first double amputee to command an Army installation, according to Dees.

“For all of us the change of command is a bitter-sweet,” he says. “The staff gets attached of the commander. We’re going to miss him.”

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