932nd Airlift Wing honor guard stands ready
932nd Airlift Wing honor guard members prepare to start the change of command.
by Tech Sgt. Gerald Sonnenberg
932nd Airlift Wing
1/6/2008 - Scott AFB, Ill. -- Colonel John C. Flournoy, Jr., comes in to lead the 932nd from 22nd Air Force at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga., where he served as director of 22nd Air Force Operations. Twenty-Second Air Force is the largest of three numbered air forces in the Air Force Reserve, and manages more than 25,000 reservists. The wing honor guard took care of the details involving the two star general's flag and the American flag.
The mission of the 1,000 member 932nd AW is to provide first-class, worldwide, safe, and reliable airlift for distinguished visitors and their staffs on the wing's C-9C and C-40 aircraft for VIP special assignment missions. The wing reports to 4th Air Force at March Air Reserve Base, Calif. Officiating at the ceremony was Maj. Gen. Robert E. Duignan, commander of Air Force Reserve Command's 4th Air Force.
"Maryanne (Colonel Miller) has done a wonderful job with this mission bringing us out of the past and into the future with this airplane," said General Duignan. "This mission is vitally important to this nation. This is a new mission for the reserves, and she jumped in with both feet."
About Colonel Flournoy, General Duignan said, "He's had a great career. He comes to you at the 932nd as a very experienced aviator and somebody that understands the mission. I know he'll do a great job."
Colonel Flournoy's arrival at Scott AFB is a homecoming of sorts. His father was assigned to the southern Illinois base three times.
"When asked where I'm from, I tell people I was born in Alabama, but I consider Scott AFB my home town," said Colonel Flournoy.
Throughout those assignments, he attended Scott AFB elementary schools and Mascoutah High School in Mascoutah, Ill., for much of his early life. He graduated from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Ill., where he also graduat