Photo By Cpl. Alissa Schuning | Former Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, commanding officers join Col....... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. - Col. John Farnam, commanding officer of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, relinquished command of the air station to Col. Jason Woodworth during a change of command ceremony, Aug. 28.
The change of command also marks the end of Farnam’s approximately 25 years of active service in the Marine Corps.
“I’ve been a Marine my entire adult life and that’s about to change,” said Farnam. “You surround yourself with people, and they help you become who you are and there is no better group to surround yourself with than United States Marines and I couldn’t have done better.”
Farnam took command of the air station July 25, 2012, and quickly became a fixture in the air station’s community involvement, so much so that the San Diego City Council declared July 28, 2015, as “Col. John P. Farnam Day.”
“I think the biggest thing that I did here was to try and erase the fence line,” explained Farnam. “This isn’t just a military base inside San Diego; it’s a community inside San Diego. The things we do here are so dependent on all the communities around us, and I just try to make Miramar part of the community and part of the solution for problems rather than a burden.”
Woodworth is taking command after spending a year in London, England, attending the Royal College of Defence Studies for Top Level School and said he is looking forward to returning home.
“I’ve been very lucky to have been stationed here in Miramar before, spending almost 12 years here in total before this tour, so I’m excited to work here again and return to my military home,” said Woodworth. “It’s going to be hard to follow Farnam but I just hope to continue growing the community relationships and improving the station as a whole.”
Farnam said he is confident in the abilities of Woodworth and believes he has what it takes to continue to push Miramar in the right direction.
“He will see this base in ways that I never saw, and they’ll have focus on things that I have let slip through the cracks or didn’t feel were important,” said Farnam. “He’ll pick it up and push it along to the next level for sure.”
Before leaving his role as commanding officer, Farnam had one more piece of advice for the Marines of MCAS Miramar.
“Relationships are the biggest thing for me,” said Farnam. “You can get great people who work so well and are so strong at what they do but people tend to fall into a rut. If you can get them to look left and right, realize that they aren’t in this alone, and get that communication going, then what they can accomplish is unending. I feel like I was able to do that and can’t thank everyone enough for allowing me that opportunity.”
| Date Taken: | 08.28.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.28.2015 18:09 |
| Story ID: | 174622 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, CA, US |
| Hometown: | SAN DIEGO, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 586 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Col. Farnam relinquishes command of MCAS Miramar, by Cpl Alissa Schuning, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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