Col. Blaine Hedges, who received a Bachelor of Applied Science degree from Louisville in 1993, assumed command of the 7th “Bold Warrior” Brigade on July 2, Fort Knox announced.
Cadet Command’s 7th Brigade includes the Army Senior and Junior ROTC programs in the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee: 3,353 senior ROTC cadets in 38 host colleges and universities and 105 non-host programs; 245 nurse cadets at 54 schools of nursing; and more than 24,800 junior JROTC cadets in 219 schools.
Hedges, a 1987 graduate of Louisville’s Waggener High School, was assigned to Fort Knox from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, National Defense University, where he just finished earning a master’s degree.
“Finding out that I’d be a brigade commander was awesome, and learning that I’d command a ROTC brigade, well, that was fantastic,” he said.
His other assignments include the 25th Infantry Division (Light), Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; I (U.S.) Corps at Fort Lewis, Washington; 3d Chemical Brigade, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; and the 83rd Chemical Battalion, Fort Polk, Louisiana.
Hedges is the son of Jackie Franklin of Louisville.