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A summer of change: hail & farewell

  • Published
  • By Col. Gary Goldstone
  • 375th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  This summer marks a season of change for the 375th Airlift Wing as we say goodbye to three outstanding group commanders who led the way through some challenging times these past few years and say hello to new leaders who will continue the mission of Enabling Combat Power. 

One change of command already occurred Monday as Col. Diane Ritter left us for the mountains of Afghanistan for a year-long deployment. Taking command of the 375th Medical Group is Col. Jill Sterling, who came to us after commanding the 96th Medical Operations Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. 

Historically, changes of command focus on the incoming commander, but I would like to express my thanks to Colonel Ritter who led one of the most demanding medical groups in Air Mobility Command. She led the medical group through historic change from a full-service hospital with emergency, inpatient, intensive care and surgical services to AMC's largest outpatient clinic. 

Critical to this transition was overseeing the Air Force's Medical Service's No. 1 facility renovation project--a complex $45 million dollar transformation updating the 1950s era hospital to an efficient and safe out-patient clinic that when complete, will help to bring the entire medical group under one roof maximizing access to care. All along the path of construction, she and her staff ensured there was no disruption in service to our patients. 

She also fostered a warm relationship with our local community partners while improving quality of life and ensuring gold standard medical care. Facing difficult decisions from the base realignment and closure commission that forced the closure of medical emergency services here, she secured an interim, no-cost to the government, memorandum of understanding with a community partner to continue uninterrupted ambulance service on base while a long-term solution was researched. 

Guiding her team through painstaking legal and contractual issues, Colonel Ritter recently signed the contract implementing a five-year agreement with our civilian colleagues to provide modern and robust ambulance coverage for Team Scott. 

Colonel Ritter set benchmarks for this command and the Air Force Medical Service. Under her leadership, the family medicine program was recognized nationally as a "program of excellence" for the third year in a row--an honor placing the program in the top 8 percent across the nation. She led the group through its first-ever national accreditation inspection resulting in zero discrepancies, two best practices and a rare five-year accreditation. 

She is a pandemic expert, so that came in handy as she assisted with the local county response and directed the wing's medical actions to educate and calm a nervous base population with up-front, fact-based information, town hall meetings and public service messages regarding the recent H1N1 flu. 

Mary and I, along with the rest of Team Scott, wishes Colonel Ritter and her family well as she continues to serve our great nation. 

And, although we will miss Colonel Ritter's leadership, we are very pleased to have Colonel Jill Sterling and her family joining us. Her command experiences at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., Lackland AFB, Texas, Balad AB, Iraq, Eglin AFB, Fla. and Kirkuk, Iraq, have prepared her well for command leadership. Her expertise is evident as Eglin AFB just received an "outstanding" on the Health Services Inspection and Joint Commission Survey last month. I look forward to seeing how her specific contributions to the team will unfold. 

As I mentioned, that is just one of three changes of command occurring this month. Tomorrow we say goodbye to Col. Curtis Connell who's headed out to Washington, D.C., and thus welcome Col. Terry Ward to lead the 375th Operations Group. Colonel Ward recently graduated from Air War College at Maxwell AFB, Ala. And, at the end of the month, the 375th Communications Group commander, Col. Curtis Piontkowsky, moves over to become the vice commander for the Air Force Communications Agency, at Scott, and Col. Dennis Simpson, will assume command. He arrives from headquarters Air Combat Command's directorate of communications at Langley AFB, Va. 

Team Scott has some of the greatest Airmen in the world and these commanders are critical to their success. In future editions of the Command Post, I'll be able to say a proper farewell to these other two amazing commanders, and you will get to know more about our new teammates as well. Until then, welcome aboard and enjoy your tour at Scott! AIR POWER!