Marine base switches head commanders

BARSTOW • A new commander has taken charge of the Marine Corps Logistics Base.

After three years as head of the base, Col. Kenneth Enzor relinquished the reins to Col. Daniel Ermer in a change of command ceremony at Sorensen Field at the base on Friday. Regional and local officials, including county First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, community dignitaries, and a crowd of 70 people welcomed Ermer while bidding a final farewell to Enzor.

The ceremony included music by a marching band from the Marine Corps Center in Twentynine Palms as well as formations of troops and horse-mounted Marines marching along the field.

Ermer takes charge of the MCLB after serving as the assistant chief of staff while working with installations and logistics. Most recently, he worked at the National Defense University, Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C.

According to Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert, commanding general of Marine Corps Installations West, the 44-year-old colonel arrives with a solid level of experience, noting Ermer’s background in combat engineering.

“You come with an incredible reputation of competence,” said Lehnert during the ceremony.

Ermer, however, acknowledged that taking over the MCLB will be a new challenge for him.

“This is going to be something completely new and different,” said Ermer.

“I look forward to the next three years of learning with you,” he said.

Meanwhile, Enzor, 54, will be heading across the country to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where he will work with the 2nd Marine Logistics Group at its headquarters, according to MCLB spokesman Rob Jackson. There Enzor will work more directly with operations and the training of troops, according to Jackson.

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Daniel P. Ermer
Age: 44
Birthplace: Mason City, Iowa
Background: Ermer graduated from Iowa State University in 1987 under the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps program. He has served overseas several times, including places like Kenya, Eritrea and the Persian Gulf. Most recently, he was deployed to Iraq from Sept. 2006 to March 2007.
Family: Ermer is engaged to fiancee Krystal Franco of San Diego. He has a 7-year-old son, Daniel Robert, from a previous marriage.