Col. Patrick Miller assumed command of the 88th Air Base Wing Friday, succeeding Col. Thomas Sherman, who is headed to the Pentagon for a new job as principal military assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon.
Lt. Gen. Robert McMurry, commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, presided over the ceremony.
McMurry assured Wright-Patterson employees: “You are in good hands.”
“Pat’s got some fantastic experience … he is well decorated and well experienced,” McMurry, a three-star general, said during the change-of-command event Friday.
Credit: Wesley Farnsworth
Credit: Wesley Farnsworth
Sherman told an audience at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force that supporting a base of this size “takes heart and soul.”
“This has truly been an amazing journey,” Sherman said.
The event was closed to the media and the public, but a feed of the event live-streamed on the base’s Facebook page. For a brief portion of the event, the feed offered no audio.
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Miller hails from the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas where he served as vice commander.
He was responsible there for providing installation and mission support to 77 Air Force installations, nine major commands and two direct reporting units with an annual budget of about $10 billion.
“Team, I am humbled to be standing before you today as the commander of the mighty 88th,” said Miller, a former instructor and course director of the Civil Engineer and Services School at Wright-Patterson.
“You’ve had an awesome ride; we truly appreciate your service to the base,” Miller also told Sherman.
“We are thrilled to be back in Big 10 country,” the Penn State graduate added.
As commander of the 88th Air Base Wing, Miller will oversee one of the largest air base wings in the Air Force with more than 5,000 Air Force military, civilian and contractor employees directly employed by the wing.
The base itself is home to 30,000 total military and civilian employees.
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The wing provides supports one of the largest and most complex bases in the Air Force, an installation that is home to a major acquisition center, research and development laboratories, a major command headquarters, an airlift wing, and the world’s largest military air museum.
“One way or another, you better buckle up,” McMurry said. “It’s going to be a ride.”
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