Col. Richard C. Kim returned home after 22 years to assume command of the 3,500-member 3rd Brigade Combat Team at Schofield Barracks as it prepares for its fourth wartime deployment, to Afghanistan next spring.

The 25th Infantry Division unit has been to Iraq twice - in August 2006 and October 2008 - and Afghanistan in April 2004.

Kim, 45, said his brigade has just completed being re-equipped after spending a year in northern Iraq in Kirkuk and Salah ad Din provinces last year. He told reporters yesterday after his change of command ceremonies on Schofield Barracks' Sills Field that his soldiers face nearly a year of “;robust training events”; culminated by a monthlong evaluation period at the National Training Center in Southern California's Mojave Desert.

Kim replaces Col. Walter E. Piatt, who has led the “;Bronco”; Brigade for the past 21/2 years and who will be spending next year on a fellowship at Georgetown University.

Kim, a 1983 McKinley High School graduate, left the islands after receiving his commission as a second lieutenant through the University of Hawaii Army ROTC program in 1988. Most of his career has been away from the Pacific, except for his last assignment in South Korea with U.S. Forces Korea and Combined Forces Command.

Several of Kim's classmates from the UH class of 1988 attended the Schofield Barracks ceremony and said they always suspected that he would end up as an Army career officer.

Allen Yim, who left the Army after 10 years, described Kim as “;the guy who was the most determined,”; adding, “;He was born to be an infantry officer.”;

Another UH classmate, Army Reserve Col. Sean Lee, said he was not surprised to see Kim as a brigade commander. “;In our class we knew he was going to succeed,”; he said.

Kim's military service has included assignments to the 2nd Infantry Division, 82nd Airborne Division and 75th Ranger Regiment, and staff assignments in South Korea.

He also has completed several combat deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, the latest being in

January 2007 when he led the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, during the historical surge into Baghdad.

As Memorial Day approaches, Kim said his “;thoughts go back to all the sacrifices that is made by fellow soldiers,”; adding, “;My battalion lost eight great Americans during that surge, and several soldiers were wounded as well. “;