6/28/2012 - JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –
The men and women of the 12th Flying Training Wing bid farewell to Col. Richard Murphy and welcomed their new commander, Col. Gerald Goodfellow, during a change of command ceremony Thursday.
Maj. Gen. Mark Solo, 19th Air Force commander, presided over the ceremony.
"When you look at the 12th's accomplishments since his arrival in February of 2010, it's apparent that Col. Murphy and his team have been operating at full speed since day one," Solo said.
Solo complimented Murphy on his leadership of the wing through a time of great change, citing the stand-up of the Air Force's only undergraduate remotely piloted aircraft training program and growth of the Air Force's combat systems officer program.
"When I took command of the wing, I knew the 12th FTW was a wing in transition, and that I had been charged by Air Education and Training Command to stabilize it and steer us in a new direction," Murphy said.
"We've accomplished a lot together and I'm immeasurably proud to have each and every one of you as a fellow brother or sister in arms."
Murphy highlighted many of the wing's accomplishments during his tenure, including the implementation of Joint Base San Antonio and the consolidation of the introduction to fighter fundamentals program.
Most recently, the wing added the 306th Flying Training Group, responsible for the oversight of all Airmanship programs at the U.S. Air Force Academy ,as well as the Air Force's Initial Flight Screening program at Pueblo, Colo.
"You are the best our Air Force has to offer," Murphy said. "Since day one of my command, I knew we were changing our course. What I didn't know was how far we would go."
Following Murphy's remarks, Solo assisted Murphy in placing the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award streamer on the 12th FTW flag, marking the wing's achievements from June 1, 2009 to June 30, 2011. Solo then accepted the guidon from Murphy and passed it to Goodfellow, marking his assumption of command.
Goodfellow arrives from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, where he served as vice commander for the 7th Bomb Wing. He is a master navigator with more than 2,800 hours in the B-1B and KC-135 aircraft.
Goodfellow has served as a B-1B instructor and evaluator weapons system officer, the chief of standardization and evaluation, and has commanded at the squadron detachment and group levels. He served as the chief of the Wargaming Branch, Directorate of Operational Plans and Joint Matters, Headquarters Air Force, as well as the director of Joint Doctrine and professor of strategy at U.S. Army War College.