FORT STEWART — Mere seconds after Command Sgt. Maj. Donald Durgin was handed the colors of the 3rd Infantry Division, he and Brig. Gen. John Lubas began casing the flags.

Command Sgt. Maj. Durgin was welcomed back to Fort Stewart as the 3rd ID’s command sergeant major, becoming the top enlisted advisor to Brig. Gen. Lubas, the division commander. The care of the division’s colors is entrusted to the command sergeant major.

The division headquarters, and a handful of its units, are heading back to eastern Europe for a rotation as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve.

The 3rd Division Artillery and the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade are returning to eastern Europe. They will replace their colleagues of the 1st Armored Division.

The 3rd ID’s 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team is expected to start its trek home shortly from Operation Atlantic Resolve. It will be replaced by the 1st Cavalry Division’s 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team.

“This division has a long and proud history in Europe,” Brig. Gen. Lubas said Friday morning at Cottrell Field.

The Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. Randy George, has given the 3rd ID an additional task, even as it prepares to bring back one brigade and send more units on a deployment expected to last nine months. The division again is charged with transforming its current armored brigade combat teams to fight the wars of today and tomorrow.

“And we’re doing all this while we continue to train our leaders and soldiers, maintain and modernize our equipment and make sure we’re ready and prepared to deploy to combat on a moment’s notice,” Brig. Gen. Lubas said.

“Our charge is clear,” Command Sgt. Maj. Durgin said. “Train hard, fight harder, win always.”

Durgin also noted the number of times 3rd ID units have made the rotation to Europe as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve.

“The soldiers are familiar with it, the soldiers are comfortable with it, and they know they are going to be taken care of forward, and their families will be taken care of back here. We have prepared them to the best of our abilities and they are going to go forward and thrive in that environment.

“The resiliency of the Dogfaced soldiers is incredible. It is absolutely astounding.”

For Marne 7, the radio call sign of the division’s command sergeant major, the assignment to Fort Stewart is akin to a homecoming. Command Sgt. Maj. Durgin, who had been the sergeant major for I Corps G3/5/7 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, met his wife Katie while he was stationed previously at Fort Stewart. They were married on Tybee Island and their three daughters were born at Fort Stewart’s Winn Army Community Hospital.

Command Sgt. Maj. Durgin, who deployed with the 3rd ID three times, has spent six years total in his previous assignments at Fort Stewart.

“You’ve been gone far too long,” Brig. Gen. Lubas said.

Durgin said serving as the 3rd ID’s command sergeant major was “the highest honor of his career.”

“My family and I are proud to be back home,” he said. “Fort Stewart and this division and this community hold a special place in our hearts.”

While the division’s flags have yet to make the trek back to Europe, the 3rd ID’s commander has no doubt the impact it will have on the region.

“When we uncase our division colors once more in Europe, may they bring comfort to our allies and strike fear into the hearts of our enemies,” Brig. Gen. Lubas said.