375th CG receives a new commander Published July 8, 2009 By Airman 1st Class Amber Kelly-Herard 375th Airlift Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- The last of three group change of commands took place June 26. The 375th Communications Group said farewell to Col. Curtis Piontkowsky and welcomed their new commander, Col. Dennis Simpson. "I am very happy to be here," said Colonel Simpson. "We had a fantastic welcome to the base. It looks like we have great support from the local community. De and I look forward to working at the Showcase Wing." Colonel Simpson is originally from Milpitas, Calif. He graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1985 and was sent first to Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. His other assignments include Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, Langley AFB, Va., Robins AFB, Ga., Kunsan Air Base, Korea, the Pentagon and Tinker AFB, Okla. His previous assignment was at Langley AFB for the second time working at the Air Combat Command headquarters. While at Scott, he plans to continue the work that has been started. "We have a challenge to combine all the organizations on base to one network, while keeping in step with what the Air Force is doing to create one network for the whole Air Force," the commander said. Colonel Simpson knows that challenge cannot be completed without his Airmen and he recognizes their work. "I appreciate the hard work done to this point for the Enhanced Compliance Validation," he said. "There's still a lot of hard work ahead of us. There is relief on the horizon as the Air Force Network Operations transformation progresses, but it's difficult to say exactly when we'll get to shift our workload off the base. Our situation will not change very much in the near term so I would ask that everyone hold the line and keep working hard."