Maj. Gen. Derek France, the 3rd Air Force commander, enters a change of command ceremony at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, followed by colonels Bryan Callahan, Jason Chambers and Matthew Bartlett on June 9, 2023. During the ceremony, Callahan relinquished command of the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing and 435th Air Expeditionary Wing, and Bartlett took command of the 435th AGOW and Chambers of the newly established 406th Air Expeditionary Wing. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — The two newest Air Force wing commanders at Ramstein have the pedigree and expertise to do each other’s job.
But with the inactivation of one wing and the activation of another, they won’t have to.
Col. Matthew Bartlett, the new commander of the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing, can focus on Europe, and Col. Jason Chambers, the new commander of the 406th Air Expeditionary Wing, can direct his full attention to Africa.
Previously, the wings’ missions were led by one command team. Inactivating the 435th Air Expeditionary Wing and standing up the 406th Air Expeditionary Wing in its place allows each wing to have its own commander.
The organizational shift was formalized at a ceremony Friday as Bartlett and Chambers took command of their respective wings.
But the change was about two years in the making, they said.
“As it’s gotten a lot more active in the European theater, it’s long overdue,” Chambers said. “It allows each command team to provide dedicated attention to the specific mission sets under their command.”
Before the leadership reshuffle, one command team oversaw the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing and the 435th Air Expeditionary Wing, even though the former focused on Europe and the latter Africa.
Maj. Gen. Derek France, the 3rd Air Force commander, left, and Col. Bryan Callahan perform the ceremonial casing of the colors for the 435th Air Expeditionary Wing's inactivation at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on June 9, 2023. The wing was activated in 2013 and provided tactical airlift, personnel recovery, casualty evacuation, base operations support and direct logistics management. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
Col. Jason Chambers, right, salutes Maj. Gen. Derek France upon uncasing the colors and assuming command of the newly activated 406th Air Expeditionary Wing during a change of command ceremony June 9, 2023, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The wing will continue the now deactivated 435th Air Expeditionary Wing’s mission of providing airfield support, intelligence, tactical airlift, personnel recovery and logistics support in Africa. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
Col. Jason Chambers speaks upon taking command of the newly activated 406th Air Expeditionary Wing on June 9, 2023, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Chambers is a former enlisted Survival Evasion Resistance Escape instructor who was commissioned in 2003. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
Airmen in the audience watch as the 435th Air Expeditionary Wing undergoes inactivation and the 406th Air Expeditionary Wing is activated at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on June 9, 2023. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
The two wings comprise nearly 3,000 airmen in 22 squadrons across eight countries on two continents. It’s a demanding balancing act, one that became even more challenging after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Col. Bryan Callahan at the time commanded both wings and oversaw the support provided to Ukraine by the 435th AGOW, one of whose squadrons, the 435th Contingency Response Group, was the first Pentagon unit to go into the region at the time, according to the Air Force.
The group also established the first NATO logistics hub to support Ukraine and helped set up the thousands of personnel from the 82nd Airborne Division that flowed into Poland around the time of the 2022 invasion, assisting with the evacuation of refugees from Ukraine.
While operations surged in Eastern Europe, Callahan also had to keep an eye on Africa, where the 435th Air Expeditionary Wing provides security at four U.S. bases, among other tasks.
That responsibility sometimes includes rescuing personnel, as was the case in December 2022, when the wing helped orchestrate the rescue of two people from an undisclosed location in the Horn of Africa, officials said at the time.
Col. Bryan Callahan salutes Maj. Gen. Derek France, the commander of 3rd Air Force, upon receiving the Legion of Merit award June 9, 2023, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Callahan was the commander of the 435th Air Expeditionary Wing and the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
Given the complicated security landscape in Africa, Callahan said at the wings’ change of command ceremonies Friday that he was particularly proud to be able to say that “zero American lives were lost on air bases in Africa” during his command.
“That was the number that kept me awake at night,” he said.
After the 435th Air Expeditionary Wing was inactivated and the 406th stood up at Friday’s ceremony, Callahan turned over the renamed air expeditionary wing to Chambers, and Bartlett was installed as commander of the 435th.
Bartlett spent a year at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, as a group commander before stepping in as Callahan’s vice commander during the past year.
Africa now falls to Chambers, who has a bachelor’s degree in Russian and for the last year was a group commander in East Africa under the 435th Air Expeditionary Wing.
Not much is expected to change for the airmen in each wing — except uniform patches for some. The ripping sound of Velcro could be heard at Friday’s ceremony as those in attendance switched to the 406th AEW insignia.
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Col. Matthew Bartlett, right, accepts the ceremonial guidon and command of the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing from Maj. Gen. Derek France at a unit activation ceremony June 9, 2023, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The wing's airmen build expeditionary airfields and enable multi-theater support in Europe and Africa. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
