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New NECC commander named

A new commander of Navy Expeditionary Combat Command leads a series of flag officer announcements issued Thursday by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead.

Rear Adm. Carol Pottenger will take over NECC in Norfolk, Va., from her previous assignment as commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 7 and Amphibious Force 7th Fleet in Japan. Established in January 2006, NECC is the lead command for Seabees, riverine sailors, explosive ordnance disposal personnel, maritime civil affairs and other naval expeditionary forces. Pottenger is the former skipper of the ammunition ship Shasta and the supply ship Bridge. She will take over for Rear Adm. Michael Tillotson, who was serving as the interim commander of NECC. Rear Adm. Donald Bullard, who retired in January, was the first commander of NECC, which numbers about 40,000 sailors.

Capt. Richard Landolt has been nominated to receive his first star and selected to take over for Pottenger as commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 7 in Okinawa.

In another flag move, Rear Adm. (lower half) Mark Vance will leave his post as director of the assessment division of the resources, requirements and assessments department in the chief of naval operations office at the Pentagon to become commander of Carrier Strike Group 3 based in Bremerton, Wash. Vance is an aviator who commanded Carrier Air Wing 3 during Operation Iraqi Freedom.