JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –
A career logistics officer who has had command positions at two air bases assumed leadership of the 902nd Mission Support Group during a change of command ceremony Aug. 10.
Col. Christine Erlewine, who comes to Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph from the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime in Columbus, Ohio, where she had served as director of land supplier operations since June 2011, succeeds Col. Scott Peel, who became 902nd MSG commander in August 2010.
Brig. Gen. Theresa Carter, Joint Base San Antonio commander, who presided over the change of command at the Kendrick Club, said Erlewine brings "superb credentials" to her new post.
"I can't think of a better pedigree, a better background of somebody to come in and take the reins of leadership and the mantle of command for the 902nd MSG," she said.
Carter said Erlewine, the Air Force Transportation Officer of the Year in 1997, understands "how to get the right thing to the right place at the right time for the people who need it.
"It's taking that whole supply chain mentality and looking at things from getting them into the base, getting them loaded on airplanes and getting them to the warfighter downrange when they need it so they can have the appropriate effect on the battlefield," she said.
Carter said Erlewine established herself "from the very beginning," serving as combat readiness flight commander with the 438th Aerial Port Squadron at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., where she helped provide cargo support for Desert Shield and Desert Storm and her flight was the best in the 21st Air Force.
Later, when the Air Force "was merging supply, transportation and logistics career fields into a single new squadron," Carter said, Erlewine had an opportunity to go to one of the first logistics readiness squadrons, serving as 305th LRS operations officer, also at McGuire AFB.
"So I think she got a chance and a great insight into what it takes to build a new organization, such as the 902nd, which is really still in its infancy stages here," she said.
Carter also said leading the 902nd MSG will give Erlewine an opportunity "to expand beyond her functional specialty and look at the full breadth of what a mission support group does."
Erlewine, who has served as 724th Air Mobility Squadron commander at Aviano Air Base, Italy, and 380th MSG deputy commander, Southwest Asia, said it was a "great honor" to be selected as 902nd MSG commander.
"Every assignment brings with it new challenges, new adventures and many memories," she said. "As I listened to General Carter's and Colonel Peel's comments, I wondered what the coming months will bring the 902nd Mission Support Group. I am confident whatever those challenges are, we will work together as a team and continue to provide Joint Base San Antonio great mission support."