Navy Region Europe Gets New Commander

If any one person understands the effects of transformation on naval forces in Europe, it is Rear Adm. Stanley Bozin. Rear Adm. Stanley Bozin speaks before turning command of Navy Region Europe and NATO’s Maritime Air Naples to Rear Adm. Noel Preston, right, during a ceremony at Naval Support Activity Naples.Bozin turned over command of Navy Region Europe and NATO’s Maritime Air Naples to Rear Adm. Noel Preston during a formal ceremony Friday at Naval Support Activity Naples. But when Bozin arrived in the city 21 months ago, he took command of the Fleet Air Mediterranean staff and Task Force 67. The former, he pointed out, no longer exists and the latter has since moved to Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily. “This is just the beginning,” he said about the Navy’s ongoing transformation. Preston takes over command of all the Navy shore bases in Europe as well as the local Naples NATO command, which encompass more than 25,000 military and civilian personnel and family members. Naval forces in Europe are broken down into operational forces, which are run by the 6th Fleet, and into a support function, which is what Navy Region Europe controls. Preston arrives from serving as a member of the combined Naval Forces Europe/6th Fleet staff where he served as the director, Navy Europe Programs, Resources and Support. Guest speaker Adm. Harry Ulrich III said that Bozin “got the dreaded one-way ticket from bella Napoli (“beautiful Naples”) to Washington, D.C.,” where he will serve as director, Office of Budget, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Financial Management and Comptroller; and director, Fiscal Management Division for the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Rear Admiral Noel G. Preston