New boss, focus for Armory-based unit

Lt. Col. Donna A. McDermott, who succeeded then Lt. Col. David A. Ceniti, now a colonel, as commander of Benicia’s 749th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion of the California Army National Guard in March 2013, will relinquish that command next month to Lt. Col. Barbara J. Beegles, a Guard spokesperson said Monday.

The private ceremony will take place Feb. 8 at the Benicia Armory, 711 Hillcrest Drive, 1st Lt. Wesley Gwisdala said Monday.

Incoming commander Beegles started her career in 1986 as a security forces specialist in the U.S. Air Force. Among her assignments have been a tour in Lajes Air Field, Azores, Portugal, during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

She left active duty in 1991 and joined the Air Force Reserves, becoming a member of the South Dakota Army National Guard in 1993. She completed Ordnance Officer Advance Course in 2002, and was promoted to captain, after which she transferred to recruiting and retention command to become an officer recruiter.

Beegles moved to Sacramento in January 2006 and was chosen to command the 118th Maintenance Company. The next year, she deployed 237 soldiers in five separate forward operating bases (FOBs) in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. She also was promoted to major.

Redeploying the unit back to California in 2007, Beegles remained the 118th’s commander until October 2009, when she transferred to the 185th Quartermaster Battalion as its executive officer.

In 2010, Beegles was chosen to attend resident Command General Staff College at Redstone Arsenal, Ala. Once she completed intermediate level education (ILE), she was assigned to the 116th Regional Support Group (RSG) as the support operations officer, a post she had for two years. She then was transferred to the United States Property and Fiscal Office at San Luis Obispo as the supply and services branch chief, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Beegles has earned a variety of military awards: the Bronze Star medal, Army Commendation Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Achievement Medal, Air Force Achievement Medal, Air Force Good Conduct Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, two National Defense Service Medals, Air Force Overseas Short Tour Ribbon, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with M (Mobilization) Device, Overseas Service Ribbon, Air Force Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, the Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon, the Army Service Ribbon and Air Force Service Ribbon.

McDermott, the well-decorated officer who is relinquishing command, was the chief of personnel policy and domestic operations in the National Guard Bureau before being assigned to command the 749th CSSB.

During her two years here, she guided the battalion as it provided multi-functional sustainment at the corps level as well as Tier 1 civil support to the state.

Gwisdala said the Benicia National Guard Armory has 12 full-time members and 70 who work there part-time. However, it has nearly 700 soldiers under its supervision.

The 749th CSSB experienced its first overseas wartime deployment under Ceniti’s command, when it departed late 2010 for a year-long assignment in Iraq, setting logistics records in Operation New Dawn.

Since the National Guard has been back in Benicia, its focus has been on providing supplies and being a reaction force to aid Californians during emergencies, such as the Napa earthquake last year and in combatting forest fires, Gwisdala said.

However, he said he anticipates the battalion will increase its civil support operations involvement under Beegles’s command.