510FS Change of Command

On Friday, February 22 the 510th Fighter Squadron had a Change of Command (CoC) ceremony to say bye to the outgoing commander and welcome the new. Our outgoing commander was good and lead us through a successful deployment to Iraq and back safely. He's now on to bigger and better things in the Air Force. The CoC ceremony has a lot of tradition associated with it of which you can probably read about on the internet. One is the passing of the squadron guidon. The guidon is a wooden pole with the squadron flag at the top of it. The outgoing commander passes the guidon to the Operations Group Commander (he's in control of all flying squadrons on base and oversees the ceremony) who then passes it back to the incoming commander. There is also a passing of the last/first salute to the outgoing/incoming commanders from the squadron who stands in formation below the ceremony stage. I enjoy things like this where the military traditions are carried out...it sets the stage well for a new commander to take over the squadron.

In perfect timing for the new commander to take over was the arrival of our new squadron jet coming to use from Cannon AFB. The actual tail number of the aircraft is 510, and with the new paint job look very nice sitting in the hangar for the ceremony. We're all looking forward to the months ahead with the new commander in charge to lead us on into the future.

The middle of March I'm leading my first 4-ship cross-country similar to the one I went on last year and I'm also coordinating Joint Multi-National Readiness Center (JMRC) flights for our squadron coming up soon to Grafenwoehr Range in Germany. These flights involve pre-tanking and then going to the range to shoot the gun and simulate dropping bombs before flying back to Aviano. While there we also work with Army ground controllers to practice as if we were actually operating in war. It's a great view going up and back over the Alps! Hope everyone is enjoying the info. Fly safe!