Lackland Air Force Base, Texas –
As Col. Gina Grosso prepares to leave Team Lackland after completing a two-year tour as the 737th Training Group Commander, the group deputy commander says the 737th TRG has fared extremely well under her leadership.
"Over the short span of Colonel Grosso's tour, we successfully implemented the most sweeping changes in 60 years of BMT history," says Lt. Col. Richard Edge, Deputy Commander, 737th TRG. "She brought out the absolute best in all of us and inspired us to willingly stretch ourselves further than we had ever thought possible."
The 737th TRG is the U.S. Air Force's sole basic military training group, comprised of nine squadrons, more than 700 permanent party personnel and an average daily student load of more than 6,000 students. The group conducts all aspects of the Air Force's enlisted recruit training program and annually ensures orderly transition from civilian to military life for nearly 45,000 regular, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves.
Colonel Grosso arrived on Lackland as the 737th TRG Commander in July 2004. Previously, the 20-year-veteran represented the Air Force as a fellow to the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University in Boston.
"She is absolutely brilliant and unmatched in her ability to take in huge amounts of data, make sense of it and derive wise decisions," Lieutenant Colonel Edge says. "Yet, she is completely down-to-earth, and treats the most junior Airman or trainee with as much respect and appreciation as she does a general officer."
Colonel Grosso is transferring to Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, to become the Pacific Air Command personnel director.