62nd OG welcomes new commander

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jacob Jimenez
  • 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. --  The 62nd Operations Group saluted their new commander during a change of command ceremony March 21.

Col. Andrew Hird, received command of the 62nd OG from Col. Paul Eberhart, who is stepping down for a new duty assignment. Col. Wyn Elder, 62nd Airlift Wing commander, officiated over the ceremony.

"I'm confident Colonel Hird is the right person for the Operations Group," said Col. Wyn Elder, 62nd AW commander. "His proven leadership performance and outstanding reputation speaks for itself. I look forward to seeing his contributions to the 62nd."

Hird previously served as the Operations Support Division Chief for the Joint Distribution Process Analysis Center in support of the U.S. Transportation Command.

"My wife Alicia and I are very humbled and excited to join this phenomenal McChord team," said Hird. "I am thrilled to be a part of such an awesome wing in such a great place. Last fall if you offered me to pick any job in the entire airlift community, I would have emphatically asked to join McChord's operations group. This is the winning lottery ticket for me on a very personal level."

Hird commissioned in the Air Force in 1991 after graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. He is a command pilot with more than 4,000 flight hours and has flown combat missions in Operations Deliberate Force, Allied Force, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

JBLM is Hird's 10th assignment in the Air Force. His experiences include previous airlift missions at Dover Air Force Base, Del., JB Charleston, S.C., Altus AFB, Okla. and JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

In his Air Force career, Hird has been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Air Medal, the Aerial Achievement Medal and the Air Force Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster.

"I've been an aviator at heart, since eight years old," he said. "If asked then, what I wanted to be when I grow up, I would tell you, an Air Force pilot!"