RICHMOND, Va. — Brig. Gen. K. Weedon Gallagher has succeeded Brig. Gen. Lapthe C. Flora as the Virginia National Guard Assistant Adjutant General – Army, according to an announcement made April 14, 2020, by Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams, the Adjutant General of Virginia. Gallagher previously served as Assistant Adjutant General for Army Strategic Initiatives, and his effective date in the new assignment was April 1, 2020. Flora has been selected for promotion to major general, and his next assignment is pending an official announcement by the Department of Defense.
As the Assistant Adjutant General – Army, Gallagher leads the Virignia Army National Guard and provides mission readiness guidance in the areas of training, personnel management, command logistics, facilities and maintenance to support more 7,000 Army National Guard Citizen-Soldiers.
“Brig. Gen. Flora’s personal story and military career should serve as an example to everyone about what can be accomplished through hard work and consistently outstanding duty performance,” Williams said. “He has successfully balanced his obligations to family, a civilian career with great responsibilities and tough National Guard assignments including multiple overseas deployments. His leadership has made a significant impact on the Virginia National Guard that will be felt for years to come, and the U.S. Army and Department of Defense are fortunate he will continue to serve at a higher level of responsibility in his next assignment.”
Gallagher assumed his duties as Assistant Adjutant General for Army Strategic Initiatives Nov. 1, 2018, after commanding the Virginia Beach-based 329th Regional Support Group.
“Please join me in congratulating Brig. Gen. Gallagher on his his new position of increased responsibility,” Williams said. “This outstanding officer brings a depth of experience at different levels of command that have uniquely prepared him to lead our Soldiers at this most senior level. I have no doubt he will continue to excel.”
Biographical Summaries:
Flora was promoted to brigadier general in June 2016. A native of Saigon, he is the first Vietnamese boat person to be promoted to general officer in the United State Army and the second of Vietnamese descent. Following the Communist capture of Saigon in 1975, Flora and his brothers fled the city to avoid being drafted in to the North Vietnamese military. He spent more than three years in the jungle, then fled by boat to Indonesia where he spent a year living in three separate refugee camps. When he arrived in the U.S., he quickly learned English and finished his high school education in only three years. After high school Flora attended the Virginia Military Institute where he earned a bachelor’s degree and commission in the U. S. Army Reserve in 1987. He has served in a variety of leadership positions in the 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and 29th Infantry Division and commanded at the company, battalion and brigade level. He has successfully completed three overseas deployments to Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan. Flora recently retired as the Senior Applications Engineer with Night Vision business of Harris Corporation in Roanoke, and holds six patent awards related to the AN/PVS-14 and AN/AVS-9 night vision goggles.
Gallagher was commissioned from the Virginia Military Institute class of 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. His military education includes the Engineer Officer Basic and Advanced courses, Combined Arms Services and Staff School, Command and General Staff College, Senior Transportation Officer Qualification Course, and the Theater Sustainment Course. He graduated from the Army War College in 2014 and Joint Forces College in 2015. In 2017, he graduated from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government program in Leadership in Homeland Security. He completed NORTHCOM training and certification as a Dual Status Commander in 2018. He served in numerous command and staff positions in the United States Army Reserve and the Army National Guard including company commander Bravo Company, 121st Engineer Battalion (MECH), commander of the 1297th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, where he deployed the battalion to Kandahar Afghanistan in 2011, and commander of the 329th Regional Support Group. Prior to his deployment as battalion commander, he also deployed to Afghanistan in 2003 and 2008. In his civilian career, Gallagher followed a ten-year career as an engineer at the Naval Facilities Engineering Command with a transition to private sector. After serving as a vice president at a publicly traded company, he is now the owner of a small business specializing in facility management and electrical systems installations.