Col. Peter Kasarskis gives his inaugural speech as 8th Fighter Wing commander alongside the wing’s wolf mascot during a change-of-command ceremony at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, June 7, 2024. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)
KUNSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — The new leader of a fighter wing based 220 miles from Pyongyang said deterring North Korea will remain the main mission under his tenure.
Col. Peter Kasarskis took command of the 8th Fighter Wing from Col. Matthew Gaetke during a Friday ceremony attended by about 300 people inside an aircraft hangar.
“Rest assured, I am absolutely not changing the mission here,” Kasarskis said in his inaugural speech as commander. The wing’s “importance today is much greater” than when he was stationed at the base as an F-16 instructor in 2005, he added.
The wing consists of around 2,800 airmen and 40 F-16 Fighting Falcons and hosts numerous exercises with the South Korean air force throughout the year.
“A role in any potential Korean conflict here in our backyard is much more critical as the Air Force receives more missions across the globe,” Kasarskis said. “Simply put … the Wolf Pack’s daily performance is more important than ever — both in competition, and should deterrence fail, in combat.”
Kasarskis returns to Kunsan after a stint as deputy commander of the 354th Fighter Wing at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. His previous duties include advanced systems division chief in 2021 for the Air Combat Command at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., and operations director in Afghanistan in 2015 for the 455th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron.
Kasarskis was commissioned in 2000 by the U.S. Air Force Academy with a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science. He has over 2,500 flight hours in the F-16 and served over 600 hours as a mission systems operator for the RC-26B Condor reconnaissance aircraft.
Col. Matthew Gaetke, outgoing 8th Fighter Wing commander, salutes his arimen during a change-of-command ceremony at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, June 7, 2024. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)
Lt. Gen. David Iverson, left to right, commander of 7th Air Force; Col. Matthew Gaetke, outgoing 8th Fighter Wing commander; and Col. Peter Kasarskis, incoming wing commander, salute the colors during a change-of-command ceremony at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, June 7, 2024. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)
Gaetke took command of the wing on Nov. 8 after his predecessor, Col. Timothy Murphy, retired from the Air Force five months into the job due to unexplained family reasons.
Gaetke’s tenure saw two F-16s crash into the Yellow Sea, one on Dec. 11 and another on Jan. 31; neither pilot was seriously injured.
Gaetke was “instrumental in increasing our combat capability and helping deter North Korea,” said the head of 7th Air Force, Lt. Gen. David Iverson, while presiding over Friday’s ceremony.
Gaetke, as he relinquished command, called Kunsan “an amazing place” and said his seven-month stint as wing commander was “an absolute honor.”
He will start his new role as a U.S. Forces Korea operations division chief next month at Camp Humphreys, 8th Fighter Wing spokesman 1st Lt. Brandon DeBlanc told Stars and Stripes on Friday.
