Kwast will lead expeditionary wing in Afghanistan that includes SJAFB sqadrons
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on March 8, 2009 9:57 AM
When members of the 4th Fighter Wing's 335th and 336th fighter squadrons deploy to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, later this year, a familiar face will be waiting to command them.
Former 4th Commander Col. Steve Kwast confirmed Friday that he has been assigned to Bagram.
For the past several months, he has served as Air Combat Command's deputy director of requirements, but will leave the post in April to assume command of the 455th Expeditionary Wing.
"I will be responsible for all the air power that comes out of that wing," he said. "It's a tremendous honor."
And it is fitting, Kwast said, that he will once again be charged with protecting 4th airmen -- a task he welcomes with "a deep and sincere sense of honor to serve Seymour Johnson again."
"(When I was commander of the 4th) I got to command and lead them as they prepared to go. Now I get to prepare and lead them from the point of the spear," he said. "My mission, then, was to prepare them for war. Now I get to lead them in (it)."
And instead of hearing about their success and praying for their safe return, he gets to be a part of it.
"I'll get to help shepherd them through," Kwast said. "From the time they arrive to the time they come back home."