Photo By Sandra Pishner | Col. Bryan Runion assumed command July 13, of the 446th Mission Support Group, Joint...... read more read more
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - Reservists in the 446th Airlift Wing have a variety of backgrounds: Maintenance, logistics, communications, naval aviator, military brat, traditional reservist, Air Guard Reserve, Air Reserve technician, civil service, and active duty. Now roll all those backgrounds together, and you have the pedigree of the new 446th Mission Support Group commander.
Col. Bryan Runion, 446th Mission Support Group commander, assumed command of the group July 13, joining his first Reserve associate wing.
Previously a logistics squadron commander at Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana, Runion is looking forward to the challenges that come with his new position as a group commander.
"The previous unit I was in, I had just the one squadron to worry about. Now I have six. It's a diverse group with civil engineers, security forces, logistics, FSS (force support squadron), and aerial port, so it's a broad range of missions," said the father of two. "The other thing that is different is that Grissom, where I came from, is a host base. I'm coming to the associate program for the first time and also the first time I've been at a joint base, so that's different."
While he calls Marietta, Georgia, home, Runion is that son of an Air Force retired master sergeant and proudly calls himself a military brat. From military brat to naval aviator, to now Air Force Reserve group commander, he has packed his career full of diversity.
"I've done a little bit of everything. I've been an ART, I've been an AGR, I've done a three year active duty tour, and I started off my career in the Navy. I've done a little bit of everything," he said.
Runion started out in the Navy as a navigator on the P3. His transition from Navy to Air Force wasn't by choice.
"I got caught up in the draw down back when the Cold War ended," Runion said. "The program I got commissioned in was a Reserve program and I was hoping to go regular Navy active duty, but at that time they weren't taking anybody from the Reserve. So I started looking for other job opportunities. I initially got a job in civil service with the Navy, and then I found out about the ART program. I got into the ART program through a maintenance officer trainee program that I applied for and qualified and so I actually started out in maintenance and I went into logistics later. It was basically a way for me to still serve in the military in a full-time capacity."
When Runion served on a three-year active duty tour, he was in a communications billet.
"When I got into the AGR program, I got into logistics. So I crossed trained to be a 21R. So I've got the comm background and the logistics background and both of those tie into mission support," he said.
Mission support encompasses a wide variety of specialties, but all will be asked to do the same thing: be accountable.
"What I'm going to ask of folks is that they be accountable and that they meet requirements. If folks meet requirements, that means we're ready to do our mission. That's what I'm going to emphasize," said Runion.
With his wide variety of experience, there is one area Runion is not so well versed in - I-5 traffic.
"Probably the one thing I'm going to have to get use to is there is more traffic here. That's a little bit different; Grissom is out in the country where there weren't a lot of traffic jams," he said.
| Date Taken: | 07.30.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 07.30.2014 18:06 |
| Story ID: | 137766 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US |
| Hometown: | GRISSOM AIR FORCE BASE, IN, US |
| Hometown: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US |
| Hometown: | MARIETTA, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 40 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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