Photo By Ana Henderson | The elite Airborne Test Force at Yuma Test Center welcomes Chief Warrant Officer 2...... read more read more
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The elite Airborne Test Force (ATF) at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) welcomes Chief Warrant Officer 2 Melvin Bullard as its new chief.
ATF Soldiers handle all static line, military freefall, heavy drop cargo and parachute maintenance systems at U.S. Army Yuma Test Center (YTC).
“We are responsible for getting equipment and personnel safe and sound to the ground,” explained Bullard.
They also provide premier training support to the Army’s sister services, Department of War, the U.S. government, and international allies.
Bullard, a South Carolina native who joined the military in 2013, is no stranger to ATF’s mission; he served as the Pack Operations Noncommissioned Officer in Charge and a test parachutist for ATF from 2018 through 2022. While here he attended the Miliary Freefall School (MFFS), MFF jumpmaster school and the Tandem Offset Resupply Delivery System Equipment Course (TORDS-E). The TORDS-E had him jumping out of an aircraft with a 55-gallon barrel as part of the training.
“Coming back to the ATF is a unique opportunity,” he said of the assignment. Adding, “When the opportunity presented itself to come back to the Airborne Test Force, I immediately said yes because I was able to come back to something I had already done before and that I was accustomed to. I am able to go into a spot and make it better than what I found —that is always the goal.”
Long before becoming a chief warrant officer, he was told by others around him he would make a great warrant officer, which put it in his sight.
“Once I understood the requirements of being a warrant officer, I just went down that rabbit hole and figured it out.”
Now as ATF’s Chief, Bullard, “conducts, analyzes, accesses, reports and manages airdrop activities for all developmental test experiments,” at YTC.
The Bullard family is happy to be back at YPG and in the warm climate after spending three years in Germany’s cold climate.
“I enjoyed every minute of it. I traveled a lot: 20 countries in three years. When I got the opportunity to come back to the ATF, it was, ‘Yes, let’s do it’”
| Date Taken: | 03.16.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 03.16.2026 11:19 |
| Story ID: | 559021 |
| Location: | YUMA PROVING GROUND, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 74 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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