Maj. Gen. Robert H. Griffin is taking over as the deputy chief of the Corps of Engineers, replacing Maj. Gen. Hans A. Van Winkle, who is retiring as the No. 2 officer at the Corps. Griffin, currently the Corps' director of civil works, will assume the post of deputy commanding general on June 23, says Corps spokesman, Lt. Col. Gene Pawlik.

The Chief of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Robert B. Flowers, remains in his position. Flowers is nearing the end of his third year of a four-year appointment as chief, Pawlik says.

But Van Winkle's departure and Griffin's promotion set in motion a series of other changes at senior Corps levels. Maj. Gen. Carl A. Strock will become the new civil works director when he returns from his current duty in Iraq. Strock is the director of military programs at the Corps.

Moving up to the top military programs post is Maj. Gen. Ronald L. Johnson, the commander of the Corps' Pacific Ocean Division, which is based in Hawaii. Johnson is due to report there on July 3.

Johnson's replacement is Brig. Gen. Robert L. (Larry) Davis, former commander of the San Francisco-based South Pacific Division of the Corps. Davis assumed his new job on June 9.

The new head of the South Pacific Division is Col. Joseph Schroedel, chief of staff at the Corps headquarters in Washington. President Bush has nominated Schroedel for promotion to brigadier general. Schroedel reported as the division commander on May 14.