Langley Air Force Base, Va. -- In the month of June, we celebrated with our active duty associate unit as they had a change of command ceremony.
As we said goodbye to Lt. Col. James Lotspeich and welcomed Lt. Col. Lamont Morrow, we took a moment to look back on how far we've come.
In the last two years, the mission of the 860th Network Operations Squadron has left behind a maintenance-centric structure and developed a tactical operations construct, focused on providing mission assurance across the Air Force Information Network.
Operational command and control that used to sit with local crew commanders, was first centralized and shared between two units, and then finally transitioned to a single dedicated unit: the AFIN Mission Assurance Center, or AMAC.
Additionally, the execution of defensive cyber operations and Department of Defense Information Network missions through implementation of the cyber security and control system weapon system has been defined and built from the ground up.
In addition to operational changes, Maj. Robert Engelmann, our director of operations, was critical in helping our full-time Air Reserve Technicians move to integrate with their active duty component counterparts into a central location. This integration has developed a relationship and trust between our two units that was previously nonexistent. We have now placed our Reserve members in every active duty work center and earned their trust.
Most importantly, our Airmen have been on the cutting edge, embracing the changes and helping guide the discussion that we need to move forward operationally. Change is one of the few constants in Cyberspace Operations to which we must constantly adapt. However, despite the changes, our Citizen Airmen continue to shine and be recognized for their hard work.
During the integration, Senior Master Sgt. James White, who is filling the role as the lead mission commander for the 83rd NOS during the week, as well as for our DoDIN Operations Team, was recognized as a top performer. In these roles, he has been focused on building and securing the Air Force Network, guiding the collaboration pathfinder effort, as well as designing actionable plans for remediation on some of our top persistent vulnerabilities in the Air Force Information Network.
Senior Airman Kyle Squyars, who is a first-term airmen, was also recently recognized by the 83rd NOS as their Quarterly Award Winner for the second quarter.
Lastly Maj. Jeremy Leader, our boundary flight commander/crew commander, who just recently returned from a six-month deployment, where he served a director of operations and received several accolades for the work he did in there.
The last two years have proven to be full of changes, and these are just a few of our rock stars. There’s no doubt that as we move through the next cycle of change, the active duty component and the U.S. Air Force Reserve can count on the 860th NOS to continue to provide trained, mission-ready Airmen and continuity to the help lead the way!