155th Air Refueling Wing Commander Looks Back at Three Years of Historic Operations as Tenure Comes to End in October

Courtesy Photo | Colonel Robert Hargens, commander of the Lincoln-based 155th Air Refueling Wing, Nebraska Air National Guard, stands on flight line of the Nebraska National Guard air base, a row of Nebraska Air National Guard KC-135R Stratotankers appearing over his shoulders, in September 2020. Hargens, who served as commander of the wing during perhaps the busiest three years of its history, will step down as commander on Oct. 17, 2020. (Nebraska Air National Guard photo by Lt. Col. Kevin Hynes)  

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, UNITED STATES

10.17.2020

Story by Lt. Col. Kevin Hynes 

Joint Force Headquarters - Nebraska National Guard

155th Air Refueling Wing Commander Released by
Looks Back At Three Years of Historic Operations Lt. Col. Kevin Hynes
As Tenure Comes To an End in October

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 18, 2020

By Lt. Col. Kevin Hynes
Chief Public Affairs Officer, 155th Air Refueling Wing

LINCOLN, Neb. – Col. Robert Hargens’ office is strangely quiet, calm for a few minutes. That’s an extremely rare event considering that for the past three-plus years the Malcolm, Nebraska, native has commanded the Lincoln-based 155th Air Refueling Wing during perhaps the busiest period of time in the unit’s history.
“When you look back to when this unit was founded, I don’t think you will find a three-year period where the Wing has been challenged with more than what we’ve been challenged with during my tenure,” said Hargens in late September, his pending change of command just a few weeks into the future.
To emphasize this fact, one simply has to look at the checklist of all of the unit’s accomplishments to see exactly how busy the 850-plus Airmen who make up the 155th Air Refueling Wing have been.
• Various major operational and compliance inspections? Check.
• $30 million construction effort that displaced numerous Airmen and civilian employees from the base’s hangar and operations building? Check.
• Supporting the state’s emergency response efforts following the worst flooding in Nebraska history? Check.
• Providing trained medical, security, logistics and other unit Airmen in support of Nebraska’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Check.
• Providing tarmac space to the U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command and the National Strategic Research Institute during a major study on how the COVID-19 virus spreads within an airplane in flight? Check.
• Deploying members of the unit’s reaction force to support Nebraska law enforcement officials for the first time in more than 40 years during civil unrest in Lincoln? Check.
• Supporting the largest overseas deployment of 155th Air Refueling Wing Airmen in the history of the unit? Double Check.
Those are just some of the accomplishments Hargens said he will remember when he relinquishes command of the 155th ARW to incoming commander Col. John Williams on Oct. 17. In recent days, Hargens said he often found himself thinking about those unit achievements and what they mean.
“A lot of reflections over the past three-plus years… and that kind of bleeds into thinking about your entire military career as well,” Hargens said as he sat in his office at the National Guard base, the room decorated with various pictures of his family and other mementos gathered over a 33-year military career.
Is there one memory that stands out? Hargens shakes his head. There are simply too many to count.
Like sitting on a tractor on his family farm, which lies just to the north of the air base within sight and sound of the Lincoln Municipal Airport, and marveling at the Air Guard fighter jets as they flew overhead. Or perhaps when he decided to join the U.S. Marine Corps Platoon Leader Course program while attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he was majoring in Construction Management, escorted by his future wife Kelie.
“She has been there with me though this whole journey from start to finish,” Hargens said.
Hargens added that his family’s support was especially critical during his command of the 155th ARW. “I couldn’t be more blessed because they have been incredibly supportive,” he said/ “This hasn’t phased them a bit, even though I had to ask a lot more of them to support me through the challenges we’ve had.”
And those challenges were many.
When Hargens assumed command In August 2017, the unit had just completed supporting historic hurricane relief operations in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, while simultaneously wrapping up a series of deployments that had taken members of the 155th ARW to Europe, Central Asia and other locations around the globe. The unit was busy, everyone said. Extremely busy.
What few could’ve predicted, though, was the unit’s operational tempo would increase substantially during the next 36 months, with state and federal missions touching literally every member of the organization; missions that would also test Hargens’ skills as a commander.
Fortunately, Hargens had been honing these skills throughout his military career.
Following graduation from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1990, Hargens commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marines and spent the next eight-plus years flying UH-1 “Huey” and AH-1 “Cobra” helicopters. When he left the Marines in 1999 to return to Nebraska, he quickly joined the Nebraska Air Guard, first as a traditional part-time Airman before taking a full-time job in the organization.
His assignments with the unit were incredibly diverse, offering him significant opportunities to learn about nearly every aspect of the organization. For example, he served multiple stints within the 155th Operations Group as a KC-135R Stratotanker pilot, planner and later commander of the 173rd Aerial Refueling Squadron, the main flying unit within the 155th ARW. He also served stints as the base chief of safety, base civil engineer and commander of the 155th Civil Engineer Squadron.
After an assignment with the state’s Joint Force Headquarters where he worked alongside members of the Nebraska Army National Guard as the director of the Air Guard staff and deputy chief of the Joint Staff, he returned to the 155th ARW to serve as the commander of the 155th Maintenance Group before becoming the Wing’s vice commander in May 2016.
Hargens said these assignments were critical in helping him prepare to command the 155th ARW.
“I felt like it gave me a significant advantage coming into the position because I had dealt with every aspect of the base previously at some point in my career,” Hargens said. “As the Wing commander, your whole goal is to bring all of those units together to work toward a common goal that the Wing is trying to achieve.”
For example, he said serving as the base civil engineer and commander of the 155th CES gave him the opportunity to learn more about cooperative agreements and working with state of Nebraska employees. Serving in the Joint Force Headquarters, he added, helped open his eyes to the way National Guard Soldiers and Airmen are called upon by the governor to support domestic emergencies.
“These are things that are very unique to the mission support group that few Wing commanders (get) the opportunity to work in or understand until they get into the Wing command position,” Hargens said. “I got the opportunity to learn those earlier in my career.“
At the time he assumed command, Hargens said his goals for his tenure were pretty simple.
“My focus was on improving the lethality and readiness of the Wing,” he said. These goals, he added, were designed to fit into the newly-published National Defense Strategy of the United States that Defense Secretary James Mattis had recently commissioned.
“(That strategy) really defined the direction that the Department of Defense was going in,” he said. “My efforts as the Wing commander were completely in line with how we as an air refueling wing contribute to the National Defense Strategy and how my vision incorporates the challenges outlined and helps us achieve those goals.”
According to Brig. Gen. Wendy Johnson, Nebraska Air National Guard assistant adjutant general for Air, Hargens’ focus was particularly well-suited for operational climate that the 155th Air Refueling Wing found itself in.
“His laser focus on readiness, underpinned by his convictions to the U.S. Air Force Core Values of integrity, service before self and excellence in all that we do, ensured the Wing was able to successfully navigate the high operational tempo that characterized his tenure of command,” Johnson said.
It also helped prepare the Airmen under his command for their local and state emergency response missions, Johnson added.
“Our Airmen are amazing,” she said. “The Nebraska Air National Guard’s involvement in domestic emergency response has grown significantly in the last decade. Colonel Hargens – all commanders, really – is charged with preparing Airmen to perform their federal mission. Leveraging Airmen and their skills as dual capabilities is what makes the National Guard unique relative to other Service components.”
“The convergence of historical federal deployment numbers, multiple higher headquarters inspections, major facility renovations and being called on to serve our state is unprecedented,” Johnson added. “It’s a credit to Colonel Hargens’ ability to prioritize the right missions and critical training at the right times that the 155th has been successful in meeting the needs of both our nation and state.”
Looking back, Hargens said the various and ever-changing roles the individual Airmen of the 155th ARW played during the past three years and the impacts that they had cannot be overstated. Time and time again, he added, members of the unit ranging from the youngest Airmen to the oldest commanders continued to step up and volunteer to support the missions.
“Not only did people step up, raise their hands and say, ‘I will do whatever you ask,’ they did it with a great attitude,” Hargens said. “I couldn’t be prouder of our Airmen and their accomplishments.”
“To be part of that is priceless,” he added.
Hargens said this “can-do” attitude says much about the value that members of the Air National Guard plays in defending the United States on a daily basis.
“Unfortunately, (the Air National Guard) is still an extremely well-kept secret,” he said. “We do our best to tell our story and educate our leadership… (but) despite our best efforts to tell our story, a lot of people don’t understand how much today’s Air National Guard contributes to the Department of Defense, from deployments supporting national efforts, to disaster responses, to everything in between.”
Hargens’ active military service will most likely come to an end with his change of command ceremony in October, although he may still continue to serve in a traditional, part-time capacity. He said that no matter where the future takes him, the memory of serving as the commander of the 155th ARW will stay with him forever.
“The selfless service of all of our Airmen (will probably be the most lasting memory),” he said. “To see the way people have stepped up and set aside their personal lives to contribute to something significant and to do it so well… that memory will stay with me.”

• Date Taken: 10.17.2020
• Date Posted: 10.18.2020 14:25
• Story ID: 381163
• Location: LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, US
• Hometown: MALCOLM, NEBRASKA, US