PATRICK SPACE FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Col. Jesse Hamilton took command of the 920th Rescue Wing from Col. John Dobbin in a change of command ceremony held here September 11.
Maj. Gen. Bryan Radliff, 10th Air Force commander, presided over the ceremony and highlighted the importance of the rescue wing’s mission to the success of combat operations.
“You are the best our nation has to offer and I appreciate the continued innovative, empowered and selfless service. You made the best use of your limited time as part-time citizen Airmen by maximizing your real-time readiness in preparation for combat deployment,” said Radliff.
Dobbin departs after serving in operational, command and staff positions encompassing conventional and special activities in support of numerous Department of Defense, State Department and interagency operations. He was also instrumental in designing the wing’s Personnel Recovery Task Force structure and implementing numerous changes to the way combat rescue is carried out.
“Airmen, your time is now. Believe it. Own it. Fight for it. Do all these things for the anointed purpose for which you stand among these ranks today. These things you do; not for glory, not for riches, not for self. These things we do that others may live,” said Dobbin.
In his first comments as 920th RQW’s commander, Hamilton discussed the importance of continuing the wing’s mission and executing it under the commander’s intent during the fog and friction of war.
“I’m going to focus on two things right out of the gate. The first one is preparing to win against a peer adversary in a highly contested environment with China as the pacing threat. The second thing we are going to do is deliberately care for and develop our Airmen. We are going to improve quality of life and quality of service by putting the right person in the right job at the right time and, more importantly, we are going to make sure all our Airmen are combat leaders,” said Hamilton.
Prior to taking command, Hamilton was the 943d Rescue Group commander, a geographically separated unit of the 920th RQW, is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Weapons School is a command pilot with more than 4,000 flying hours, including more than 1,500 combat hours, in the T-37, T-38, TH-1H, B-1B and HH-60G.
Hamilton takes over the Air Force Reserve’s only combat search and rescue wing. It is comprised of more than 2,000 Airmen and civilian personnel that carry out the wing’s mission to plan, lead, and conduct military rescue operations and missions to deny competitors and adversaries exploitation of isolated personnel.