RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
One of Team Randolph's newest leaders was no more than 9 years old when he began to see his future.
Books brought the airborne feats of Eddie Rickenbacker and other flying aces of the two world wars to life, filling the young man's mind and feeding his dreams.
"I think of my military career as a calling," said Col. Brian Killough, the 12th Flying Training Wing's new vice commander. "I read books about Rickenbacker and the other aces of World War I and World War II and felt a strong pull to the Air Force."
After high school he was pulled not far from his South Carolina hometown in the direction of Raleigh, N.C., where he enrolled in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program on the campus of North Carolina State University.
He majored in aerospace engineering because he thought it would help him be a better aviator.
Colonel Killough graduated from N.C. State in 1987 and worked as an electronics technician for the Navy before attending Specialized Undergraduate Navigator Training at Mather AFB, Calif., where he received his wings as a distinguished graduate.
His first operational assignment was at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., where he served as an instructor weapon systems officer, standardization and evaluation flight examiner, chief of plans and a wing weapons officer. He also deployed to Operation Desert Shield and later flew 35 combat sorties in Operation Desert Storm.
Colonel Killough flew five more combat sorties during Operation Deliberate Force in the Balkans while he was chief of mission planning and a flight commander for the 494th Fighter Squadron at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, United Kingdom. He also served as executive officer of the 48th Fighter Wing.
After graduating from Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, Ala., Colonel Killough became chief of current operations for the Alaskan Command at Elmendorf AFB. He returned to Seymour Johnson AFB in 2002 and was soon deployed to yet another combat operation, Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he flew 14 combat sorties.
He called his combat experiences "the greatest and the worst."
"Losing friends in combat" and "the camaraderie and sense of accomplishment - those are the things you remember," he said.
Colonel Killough said one of his squadron commanders, Col. Steve Pingel, offered him the best advice in those combat situations.
"He said, 'You have trained and prepared to do the job. There's nothing better you can do, so just relax. Let the commander take care of the when and where. You be ready to do the how.'"
Colonel Killough served as commander of the 4th Operational Support Squadron at Seymour Johnson for two years before graduating from Air War College at Maxwell AFB. He was class president in 2007 and earned the Secretary of the Air Force Leadership Award for his service that year.
Prior to his arrival at Randolph, Colonel Killough was deputy director for operations of NATO Combined Air Operations Center 7 in Larissa, Greece, an assignment that involved airspace policing for a region that included Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. He had an opportunity to work with servicemembers from several coalition countries.
"It was a wonderful blending of cultures," he said. "We learned so much from one another."
Colonel Killough said the assignment required a different mindset.
"I represented our nation and the alliance," he said. "But I had to think as a NATO officer, not only as an American officer."
Colonel Killough said he and his family were "overjoyed" when they learned he would be assigned to Randolph. Now, before fully assuming his duties as vice commander, he is being requalified as an instructor with the 562nd Flying Training Squadron, seeing Randolph's main mission up close.
He said he's impressed with the students training to be combat and weapon systems officers.
"I love working with brand new officers," he said. "They're eager, intelligent and highly motivated."
Colonel Killough, who describes himself as engaged but laid-back, relaxed but focused, said he will bring a complementary perspective to his role as wing commander Col. Jacqueline Van Ovost's "alter ego."
He said his challenge as a leader is to "take care of Airmen and their families."
"When you start focusing on others, not only do you do a better job, your sense of satisfaction will be greater than with personal accomplishments."