Change is in the air for several McChord units

  • Published
  • By Tyler Hemstreet
  • Staff writer
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  During last week's tour of various Air Force bases across the nation, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, conceded to Airmen at both Colorado bases he visited that the Air Force faces a period of change as new leaders take the helm.

McChord has recently experienced some large-scale changes on a local level.

Last week the 62nd Medical Group was redesignated into the 62nd Medical Squadron, and the 62nd Mission Support Squadron merged with the 62nd Services Squadron to form the 62nd Force Support Squadron.

Although the redesignation may sound like a huge change, the transformation and alignment with Madigan Army Medical System is only an expansion of an already entrenched support system or relationship, according to 62nd MDS officials.

Since 1948, the 62nd Medical Group has been inactivated and reactivated twice and redesignated seven times, said Lt. Col. John Andrus, 62nd Medical Operations Squadron commander who took over as the new 62nd MDS commander.

"With our current redesignation back to the 62d Medical Squadron, we continue a long tradition of adjusting to changing times," he said. "However, as always, our proud tradition of providing compassionate care and relevant mission support to the men, women and families of Team McChord remains our constant and will carry us into the future."

The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act mandated the changes, which have been slowly implemented over the past year. The McChord clinic has pressed forward with these transitions and a great deal of credit is given to the phenomenal working relationships between the Army and Air Force, according to 62nd MDS officials. They continue to stress the fact that there will be no loss of services and the McChord Clinic will continue to be the gateway for medical and specialty care.

Similar to the 62nd MDS building on an already solid relationship with Madigan, the merger of the 62nd MSS and 62nd SVS is all about two squadrons coming together, said Maj. Todd Ladd, 62nd FSS operations officer.

"There's a lot of excitement in the squadron to be part of something historic here and across the Air Force," Major Ladd said of the squadron merger.

The merger should be transparent to most Airmen here, said Maj. Christopher Lavallee, 62nd FSS commander.

"All of the individual functions within both squadrons will remain tied to providing great customer service and none of them go away with the merger," Major Lavallee said. "The bottom line was to provide some synergies within the organization (such as tying the library to the education center and Family Member Programs to the Airmen and Family Readiness Center) by combining flights where it made sense and streamline the overall operation." 

And 62nd Airlift Wing units weren't the only ones affected by change, as the 1st Air Support Operations Group at Fort Lewis hosted a Change-of-Command ceremony on June 19. Col. Vincent Savino assumed command from Col. Eric Schnitzer, who is on his way to Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., to take over as chief of safety for 9th Air Force.

Colonel Savino becomes the first nonrated officer to be selected to command an ASOG and to serve as an air liaison officer to an Army Corps.

He will oversee a big change within the group as the 1st ASOG will transition in October from Air Combat Command to Pacific Air Forces during Colonel Savino's tenure. The move will more than double the group in size as it gains three new squadrons.