Leavenworth ? U.S. soldiers serving overseas are counting on those working at Fort Leavenworth to guide the future of the Army, the fort’s new commander said.

Lt. Gen. David G. Perkins, a three-star U.S. Army general, on Tuesday became commanding general of the Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth.

“Thousands and thousands and thousands of people are expecting us to get after this, to get after the future,” Perkins told a crowd at an assumption of command ceremony.

Perkins replaces Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen Jr., who is now the commander of the NATO training mission in Iraq and chief of the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq.

The mission of the Combined Arms Center, including the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, is training and education military leadership, The Kansas City Star reported.

“The Army’s leaders learn their trade here,” said four-star U.S. Army General Robert W. Cone, commanding general of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.

With U.S. involvement in Iraq winding down in seven weeks, Cone and Perkins both discussed creating the “Army of 2020.”

Perkins said before he left Iraq, several soldiers gave him a “to-do” list for his time at Fort Leavenworth.

“They were invested in our institution,” he said. “They were very much concerned with the future, not that it wasn’t going to go well but that someone is working on this.”

Perkins also has been executive assistant to the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, D.C. and spokesman for Multi-National Force Iraq in Baghdad. He came to Fort Leavenworth after serving as commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson.

Also Tuesday, Command Sgt. Maj. Christopher K. Greca became the command sergeant major of the Combined Arms Center. He arrives at the fort after serving with the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan.