Photo By Staff Sgt. Kevin Donaldson | Col. Shawn Fitzgerald, a Combat Rescue Officer, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq as...... read more read more
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WESTHAMPTON BEACH, N.Y.-New York Air National Guard Colonel Shawn P. Fitzgerald, a Cutchogue resident, who graduated from the Air Force Academy and completed multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan has been selected as the next commander of the 106th Rescue Wing.
Fitzgerald, who is trained as a Combat Rescue Officer, responsible for coordinating and commanding rescue missions, will replace Col. Michael Bank who has led the wing since 2016.
Fitzgerald will be the first wing commander who is not a rated pilot and the second Combat Rescue Officer to command an Air Force rescue wing.
In addition, Fitzgerald is a veteran of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, having also served there as an Army officer. He has also deployed to the Horn of Africa.
"An Air Force rescue wing is a unique agency - combining fixed wing aircraft, rotary wing aircraft and Guardian Angel (search and rescue) professionals along with the associated maintenance, support and medical military service members," said Major General Timothy LaBarge, commander of the New York Air National Guard. "A rescue wing is the premiere Air Force agency dedicated to providing worldwide personnel recovery, combat search and rescue capability, expeditionary combat support, and civil search and rescue support to federal and state authorities."
"Col Fitzgerald as a career Combat Rescue Officer, is uniquely qualified to lead the 106th RQW during this time of dramatic change and uncertainty. Col Fitzgerald's extensive combat deployments, leadership and domestic operations experience make him the perfect choice to lead the group of diverse and adaptable rescue wing professionals at the 106th," LaBarge said.
"I'm honored to be selected as the next Wing Commander of the 106th Rescue Wing. I've had the good fortune and pleasure to be a part of this Wing for almost 14 years and I look forward to continuing to work with this great team of selfless Airmen," Fitzgerald said.
Bank will be moving into a role at New York Air National Guard headquarters in Latham, N.Y.
"I have the utmost confidence in Colonel Shawn Fitzgerald's abilities. He knows and understands our mission inside and out and our people. He will do a great job leading the 106th Rescue Wing into the future," Bank said.
The change of command between Bank and Fitzgerald will take place on Friday, June 5.
The 106th Rescue Wing, which is based at F.S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach, is one of three Air National Guard search and rescue wings that specialize in recovering down pilots and conducting rescue missions on land or at sea.
Fitzgerald, who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1996, chose to join the Army instead of the Air Force after graduation because his father and grandfather had served in the Army.
He served in the Army from 1997 until 2006 when he left the active Army and joined the New York Air National Guard.
During his service in the Army, Fitzgerald served as an infantry platoon leader, battalion reconnaissance platoon leader, company executive officer and battalion operations officer in the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky from 1997 until 2000.
He served as an instructor at the Army's Ranger School from 2000 until 2002, when he joined the 173rd Airborne Brigade, stationed in Vicenza Italy.
From 2002 until 2004, he served as the brigade assistant operations office and was part of Operation Northern Delay, a combat parachute jump staged by 1,000 Soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade to seize the Bashar Airfield in Erbil during the coalition invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
As an operations officer, Fitzgerald played a part in planning the mission, which was the largest airborne combat jump into one drop zone since World War II.
He served as a company commander in Afghanistan in 2005, and also served there as a joint staff training officer.
"I was able to see firsthand the work of Air Force Rescue in Afghanistan," Fitzgerald said, explaining why he decided to join the Air Force. "Watching their professionalism and ability to accomplish the mission made me want to be a part of that team."
After transferring to the Air National Guard's 106th Rescue Wing in 2006, he served as the director of operations for the 103rd Rescue Squadron, from 2006 to 2011. The 106th Rescue Wing's pararescue Airmen are assigned to the 103rd Rescue Squadron.
He served as the commander of the 106th Operations Support Squadron from 2011 until 2012 and then commanded the 103rd Rescue Squadron from 2012 until 2015. He commanded the 106th Mission Support Group from 2015 to 2018 and currently serves as the 106th Rescue Wing's Vice Commander.
Fitzgerald is a graduate of the Army Infantry Officer Basic Course and the Army's Captains Career Course along with being a graduate of the Air Force Academy.
He has completed the Air Command and Staff College, the Naval Postgraduate School, the Air War College, and Advanced Joint Professional Military Education at the National Defense University.
Fitzgerald attended a homeland security course at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and is certified to serve as a Dual Status Commander, commanding National Guard, active duty and federal Reserve military forces during a domestic response operation.
His awards include two Bronze Stars, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Aerial Achievement Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the Afghanistan and Iraq campaign medals, the NATO Medal, Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon with Gold Border, the Army Combat Infantryman Badge, the Ranger Tab, Military Freefall Wings, and Master Parachutists Wings.
Fitzgerald and his wife Nicci reside in Cutchogue with their two sons, Colin and Trevor.
The Wing operates HC-130J Combat King II search and rescue aircraft and HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters along with a Guardian Angel Squadron comprised of Combat Rescue Officers, Pararescuemen, and Survival, Escape, Resist and Evasion Specialists.
Together, the Wing supports Air Force personnel recovery operations, performs civil search and rescue missions, and assists state emergency response and disaster relief efforts as directed by the Governor of New York.
More than 150 members of the wing are currently deployed in support of the state's COVID-19 pandemic response.
| Date Taken: | 05.20.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 05.20.2020 09:13 |
| Story ID: | 370383 |
| Location: | WESTHAMPTON BEACH, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 2,160 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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