HUNTINGTON -- Col. Donald G. Rutherford of Spring Valley was sworn in last weekend as the new commander of the U.S. Army's 77th Sustainment Brigade.

He replaced Col. Halvor Adams III during a Change of Command ceremony June 5 in Fort Dix, N.J.

Based in the Northeast, the 77th Sustainment Brigade basically helps units get the supplies they need in combat -- when they need them and where they need them.

Rutherford is now training with his brigade in California.

His wife, Peggy, a CVS pharmacist, and three daughters live at their home, Buck Acres, in West Huntington. His oldest daughter, Dorothy, 22, is a Marshall University graduate living in Columbus. His daughters Savannah, 16, and Rebecca, 15, are students at Spring Valley High School.

Peggy and Don Rutherford were high school sweethearts at Vinson High School, she said.

"Then he went into the Army, and I went to Ohio State, and 14 years later, we met up again and got married," she said.

Rutherford, who joined the Army in 1976 as a helicopter crew chief, has been on active duty for eight of the past 11 years.

In May 1998, he was attending seminary when he was requested by U.S. Joint Forces Command to serve on active duty with Iceland Defense Force, according to a biography included in the program at the change of command ceremony. In that capacity, he was recognized by the Joint Forces Command, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense as a focal point in developing and implementing the first overseas Joint Reserve Unit, as well as planning and executing a U.S./Icelandic bilateral exercise.

After that experience and his disaster assistance experience in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky, he was asked to start up a consequence management headquarters for Department of Defense forces to support other government agencies in the event of an attack by weapons of mass destruction, among other duties.

After Sept. 11, 2001, he was mobilized to assist with re-establishing Army Strategic Plans Division as its executive officer, after the office was destroyed in the Pentagon attack. He also was given a position in which he was responsible for ensuring the accuracy of daily briefings presented to the president by the Secretary of Defense, as well as supervising the training of other Army Liaison Officers, according to his biography.

He volunteered for deployment to Pakistan as Chief Army Security Assistance Officer, responsible for managing foreign military sales. After the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, he served on the Pakistan Army staff as a staff officer for the general officer commanding Pakistan Army Aviation, and Pakistan invited him to be the first U.S. Army Reserve officer to attend the Pakistan National Defense University. But Rutherford was instead selected as the first U.S. Army Reserve officer to graduate with a master's degree from the National Defense University's Joint Advance Warfighting School.

His most recent deployment was to Korea, where he served as a strategic planner with U.S Joint Forces Command to assist during a potential crisis.

Rutherford is a civilian contractor with MPRI, working as a strategic analyst on the Quadrennial Defense Review, assigned to the Army G-3/5/7 at the Pentagon. He's also developed a joint planning team initiative to support Pakistan currently under consideration by the chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, and serves as a spokesman with the Pakistan Embassy assisting with deliberations in military affairs.

It's difficult that he's away from home so often, Peggy Rutherford said, but she understands.

"He's very dedicated to what he does," she said. "He loves it, and it's tough, but we understand why he does it. He can really make a difference in the world and the way things are going."

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