Stone takes command of 48th Brigade in Guard

February 19, 2025
Col. Nathaniel Stone, the incoming commander of the Macon-based 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, receives the brigade colors from Brig. Gen. Jason Fryman, the commander of the Georgia Army National Guard, during the 48th Infantry Brigade change of command ceremony at Volunteer Headquarters in Macon, Georgia, on Feb. 2. (Photo by Specialist Princess Alexandria Higgins )

Article By: Staff

Col. Nathaniel Stone, a 2003 University of North Georgia (UNG) graduate, took command of the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT), the largest brigade in the Georgia Army National Guard in a Feb. 2 ceremony.

Stone is the 30th commander of the unit numbering more than 4,000 soldiers.

In 1998, Stone entered the Georgia Army National Guard as a private in the 48th IBCT. He studied at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville and what was then North Georgia College in Dahlonega, Georgia, commissioning in May 2003. A Georgia Military Service Scholarship recipient, Stone has spent his whole 27-year career in the National Guard, with the last 19 spent on active duty as an Active Guard/Reserve soldier. He said his time at UNG helped build valuable skills needed to successfully lead a platoon: understanding the orders process, how to effectively communicate, land navigation, the importance of physical fitness, and to lead from the front.

"North Georgia taught me how to lead young men and women with the values of honesty and integrity," Stone said. "You learn that people are counting on you and words matter. You're expected to do a lot of things, but you're also capable of a lot of things."

He fulfilled key assignments in the 48th IBCT, notably from 2017-2020 as battalion commander of the Cumming-based 3rd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment. Stone deployed with the 48th IBCT to Iraq from 2005-2006 as an infantry platoon leader, and twice to Afghanistan from 2009-2010 as a cavalry troop commander and 2019 as an infantry battalion commander.

Stone's awards include the Bronze Star Medal with "V" device, the Bronze Star Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, and the Army Achievement medal with one oak leaf cluster. He has also earned the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Parachutist Badge.

"This formation represents over 4,000 men and women who make this brigade the best IBCT in the National Guard," Stone said at the change-of-command ceremony. "We would not be here today if it were not for the hard work of so many dedicated men and women like you all. You put the mission first again and again. Thank you."

The 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team was originally organized on April 23, 1825, as the "Macon Volunteers, Georgia Volunteer Militia."

The 48th IBCT brigade is composed of units whose history and battle honors predate the American Revolution. Units within the brigade have served in the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, American Civil War, Seminole War, Mexican Border Service, World War I, World War II, and Iraq and Afghanistan.


Record 27 graduate from Air Assault School

Record 27 graduate from Air Assault School

The Corps of Cadets had 27 cadets graduate from the Army's Air Assault School at the Warrior Training Center at Fort Moore, Georgia, in December.