VIEW FROM THE TOP>>Keeping steady in times of change

By Brig. Gen. Rowayne A. Schatz, Jr.
19th Airlift Wing commander

This week marked a monumental change in Air Force and Little Rock Air Force Base history as the 19th Airlift Wing took over as the host unit at the Rock. Maj. Gen. Gregory A. Feest, 19th Air Force commander, and Maj. Gen. Winfield W. Scott III, 18th Air Force commander, presided over the host base transfer ceremony Wednesday.

During the ceremony, I took command of the 19th Airlift Wing after relinquishing command of the 314th Airlift Wing to Col. Charles K. Hyde. Col. James Johnson and Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Brinkley will join me as the 19th Airlift Wing vice commander and command chief, while Col. Mark Vlahos will remain 314th Airlift Wing vice commander and Chief Master Sgt. Richard Turcotte, Jr. will become 314th Airlift Wing command chief.

While there is a lot of change going on at the top and the focus of many squadrons will shift from training to deploying, our mission as a whole remains the same. The heart of the Rock beats with every aircrew member trained by our C-130 Center of Excellence, every civil engineer maintaining our top of the line facilities, every crew chief keeping our C-130’s in the air, every Airman fed by the chefs at the dining facility and every man hour spent doing what all of us do to take convoys off the road and support our Combat Airlift mission. Every Airman is equally invaluable in supporting each other and supporting our mission.

Next Friday is our base sports day. I will be participating in the 5k, volleyball, and softball and I look forward to having a great time of camaraderie with each of you as we use this event to further unite ourselves as a team. The Air Show is just around the corner and it will be a fun opportunity to show off the true air power we employ today in our Air Force. Invite your friends and family to come to this free event, and help show all visitors the pride of what it means to be Airman of the Rock!
Combat Airlift!