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Lt. Col. Stephanie L. Bukowski assumed command of the 350th Recruiting Squadron during a ceremony held June 2, 2026, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, taking the helm of one of the Air Force Reserve’s most decorated recruiting units.
The ceremony was presided over by U.S. Air Force Col. Sean “Metro” Fellows, commander of the 367th Recruiting Group, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, and opened by an invocation by Capt. William Lillie, chaplain assigned to the 911th Airlift Wing.
Bukowski, a “Jersey girl” commissioned in 2008 through ROTC at Rutgers University, now commands 12 flights spanning 21 states across the Northeastern United States — a force of 96 military and 10 civilian personnel operating out of 66 recruiting offices and 14 Military Entrance Processing Stations across an area of operations covering more than 588,000 square miles. The unit is responsible for the accession of more than 2,000 Citizen Airmen annually and manages a $675,000 annual budget.
Fellows set the tone for the ceremony early, drawing on Pittsburgh’s industrial legacy to frame the weight of the occasion.
“It’s not lost on me that you’re hosting this event in Pittsburgh, the Steel City,” Fellows said. “It’s important to note that steel is not found, it is made, forged under immense heat and pressure, hardened for a task greater than itself. The Burgh forged the steel that built America’s bridges, her warships, her majestic skylines, and now today you forge the world’s greatest weapon system, the American Airman.”
For Fellows, the change of command was never just pageantry. It endures, he argued, because it exposes something essential about how leaders are made and passed forward."
“Leadership is not a position, it is a sacred trust given by the people that we are blessed to serve, sustained by how we care for them, and passed forward, so that the mission and people continue to thrive,” Fellows continued. “Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations that we must endure with virtue, weaving strength and honor into the lives of others, and that is precisely what we are doing today.”
Before turning to Bukowski, Fellows honored the record built under outgoing commander Col. Joan Yarrell, who has since moved on to a role supporting the recruiting enterprise at the Pentagon.
“Col. Yarrell modeled what servant leadership looks like in practice, not as a philosophy, but as a daily decision, one that is echoed through centuries,” Fellows said. “As Pericles said 2,500 years ago, what we leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but is what is woven into the lives of others. Col. Yarrell wove something extraordinary into this squadron.”
The numbers underscore his point. Under Yarrell’s command, the 350th recorded 30,388 accessions over two fiscal years, finished No. 1 in production for more than six consecutive months, and logged 18,101 accessions in fiscal year 2025 alone — carrying more than 24 percent of the entire Air Force Reserve Command recruiting goal. The squadron earned 12 production awards, produced 26 Century Club honorees, and one recruiter achieved 100 gains in a single year. Ninety percent of recruiters in the squadron exceeded their individual standards.
Fellows also acknowledged Lt. Col. Micah D. Bluto, who served as interim commander in the months following Yarrell’s departure, alongside Chief Master Sgt. Armil Rucker, senior enlisted leader of both the 514th and 350th Recruiting Squadrons.
“Her selfless stewardship of this squadron was exactly the kind of quiet excellence this formation deserved,” Fellows said of Bluto. “She held the line with character and commitment.”
When Fellows turned to the incoming commander, he leaned into a piece of biographical coincidence too clean to ignore.
“At Rutgers, she was a Scarlet Knight,” Fellows said. “Today she takes command of the Northern Knights. The colors may change, the standard does not. A knight’s commitment to those in their charge, to the mission, to something greater than themselves — that is exactly what she carries into this formation today. Stephanie, you’ve always been a knight. Now you get to lead an entire order of them.”
Bukowski’s experience is built on it’s breadth. She is a fully qualified Logistics Readiness officer with expertise in contingency response and Air Force Global Force Management. She made history as the first non-rated officer to serve as director of operations for a contingency response group, earning the Air Force 2019 Contingency Responder of the Year award. She deployed in support of Operation Spartan Shield and again for Operation Allies Welcome, where she led 170 total force Airmen in the resettlement of 15,000 Afghan refugees and was recognized for her compassion in addressing the unique needs of more than 800 refugee women.
At Headquarters Air Force in the Mobilization Branch, she oversaw mobilization planning for 176,000 Air Reserve Component members, 147 mobilization packages and 7,500 activated Airmen. Prior to assuming command, she served as a subject matter expert in Air Reserve Component mobilizations and managed the activation of 45,000 Reserve Airmen across nearly 40 operations spanning 11 combatant commands.
Bukowski opened her initial remarks asking for clarification if the 350th RCS is the best recruiting squadron in the Air Force. Chief Master Sgt. Rucker boomed in confirmation it was no rumor and the room answered accordingly. “I am honored and humbled to stand before you today as the commander of the 350th Recruiting Squadron,” Bukowski told her formation. “I am reminded of the rich history and tradition of excellence that has been forged by the men and women who have served in this unit.”
To her fellow squadron commanders in the 367th Recruiting Group, she extended both a hand and a challenge. “I recognize that my unit does not operate independently, and I commit to you that the 350th will be a dedicated and reliable partner,” Bukowski said. “I look forward to the camaraderie that we are going to build, and also encourage a little bit of friendly competition.”
She was direct about what success will look like under her watch.
“Our success is not solely measured by numbers,” she said. “We succeed when we demonstrate our values of integrity, service, loyalty, and excellence in everything we do. We succeed when we build strong relationships with our partners, local communities, and the individuals we serve, and we succeed when we hold ourselves to the highest standards of professionalism and conduct.”
The 350th Recruiting Squadron, nicknamed the Northern Knights is headquartered at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, and is one of four squadrons within the 367th Recruiting Group. Its mission: inspire, engage and recruit future Airmen to deliver airpower for America.
One Team, One Fight — Go Knights!
To learn more about serving in the Air Force, Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve, go to http://www.airforce.com/find-a-recruiter or download the https://www.airforce.com/aim-high-app app to speak directly with a recruiter.
| Date Taken: | 06.03.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 06.03.2026 20:19 |
| Story ID: | 566753 |
| Location: | PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 14 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Bukowski takes charge of 350 RCS Northern Knights, by MSgt Jeffrey Grossi, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
