Migration News
422nd Air Base Squadron, 284th BSB welcome new commanders
July 11, 2003
Members of the 422nd Air Base Squadron salute their new commander during a change of command ceremony at RAF Croughton, England, on Wednesday. Lt. Col. David Frye was installed as the base commander. (Ron Jensen / S&S)
RAF CROUGHTON, England — On a muggy afternoon and beneath a partly cloudy sky, Lt. Col. David Frye took the reins of the 422nd Air Base Squadron in a change of command ceremony on the football field Wednesday at RAF Croughton.
He follows Col. Ian Dickinson, who has been named commander of the 690th Information Operations Group at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
RAF Croughton is a communications base in western England, home to about 300 active-duty Air Force members. Before the ceremony, Frye said he thought the small size of the base has benefits.
“I think it’s good for camaraderie,” he said. “It makes it a good family atmosphere.”
Frye comes to England from the Pentagon, where he was chief of the network operations and security branch in the office of the deputy chief of staff for installations and logistics.
He previously served in Europe from 1997 to 1999. He was chief of the European Regional Operations and Security Center, part of the Defense Information Systems Agency-Europe in Stuttgart, Germany.
Col. Donald Lustig, commander of the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall, presided over the 40-minute ceremony.
Meanwhile, in Giessen, Germany, command of the 284th Base Support Battalion changed hands Thursday when Army Col. David J. Bender passed the unit on to his successor, Lt. Col. Bart U. Shreve.
At Bender's request, the change-of-command ceremony occurred at midmorning in a grassy patch near the library on Giessen Depot.
Like other base support commanders departing this summer, Bender led his support community through the difficult days and weeks after Sept. 11, 2001. Bender assumed command of 284th BSB on March 27, 2001.
Bender's next assignment will take him to Fort Eustis, Va., where he will become the public works director.
Shreve comes to the battalion after serving as a deputy logistics officer with the Special Operations Command in Yongsan Garrison, South Korea. He has spent most of his career in Special Forces.
The 18-year veteran takes command of a support battalion that includes the communities of Giessen, Friedberg, Butzbach and Bad Nauheim. The overwhelming majority of soldiers assigned to the 284th BSB are currently deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.