5th Security Force Assistance Brigade commander suspended
Col. Jonathan Chung was suspended as commander of the 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade earlier this week.
The commander of an Army security force assistance brigade was suspended this week, pending an investigation.
Col. Jonathan Chung, commander of the 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord “has been assigned to U.S. Army Pacific pending the outcome of an administrative investigation,” according to a statement from Army Forces Command.
The Army did not clarify a specific reason for the investigation, saying only that Col. Tony Braxton would assume temporary command of the brigade.
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Chung took command of the unit in July 2021. He previously commanded the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, and before that served with both the 1st and 2nd Ranger Battalions and Joint Special Operations Command, deploying to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kuwait.
Comprised of small teams of officers and noncommissioned officers, the mission of the SFAB units is to “conduct training, advising, assisting, enabling and accompanying operations with allied and partner nations,” essentially a unit dedicated to conducting what is both a function of Special Forces units and what plenty of other units found themselves doing during countless deployments during the Global War on Terror. The 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade was activated in May 2020, one of six geographically aligned brigades.
Chung is the fifth Army brigade commander to be relieved in recent months. In October 2022, two brigade commanders at Fort Hood, Texas were fired the same week. Col. Jon Meredith was relieved as commander of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division. Col. Anthony Wilson was relieved as commander of the 1st Cavalry Division’s 1st Sustainment Brigade.
In November 2022, Col. Scott Desormeaux, commander of the Louisiana Army National Guard’s 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, was relieved after an investigation found that Desormeaux had “sent inappropriate text messages to other service members,”
And in January 2023, Col. Ann Meredith – married to Col. Jon Meredith – was relieved from her position as commander of the 89th Military Police Brigade, also at Fort Hood, Texas.
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