Ops group leader departs

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Jessica Clark
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  "It's a bitter sweet day," said Col. John Millard, 60th Operations Group commander. "And it's been a phenomenal two years."

Millard flew his final flight on a KC-10 Extender May 22, and his succession of command ceremony took place at the base theater Tuesday with numerous distinguished guests and community leaders on hand.

Col. Dwight Sones, 60th Air Mobility Wing commander, presented Millard with The Legion of Merit for his dedicated work as the 60th OG commander.

"I honestly believe serving in the U.S. Military is the greatest job and honor in the world," Millard said. "The last two years have been a tremendous honor to lead the mighty operations group in the defense of our nation. You enabled the U.S. Air Force to take the fight to the enemy and at the same time, saved countless lives. You are warriors and you are my heroes. I will always appreciate the selflessness and sacrifice you make.

"I'm off to be in a command position in Manas for a one-year deployment," he said. "It's going to be a great challenge, but I'm looking forward to it."

Millard said he loves watching his crews "hack the mish 24-7-365."

"I always say the sun never sets on the 60th Operations Group because we have aircrew members getting the mission done all over the world," he said. "I consider us to be the quintessential air mobility operations. Our team is fantastic. Today just symbolizes the end of my phenomenal tour."

There were a few changes in the schedule the morning of the flight, but that's a normal day for the operations group, he said. It's not chaos.

"All I tell the group to do is move the mission safe and swift and that's all I want them to do," he said. "If they can do that, it's a perfect day."

Millard's most impressive mission was his final mission in Yokota Air Base, Japan. The plane didn't have any cargo and they wanted to send the crew home.

"I'm not a big fan of flying empty, so we started making phone calls," he said.

The crew soon received a call about a 17-day-old premature baby who needed to leave Kadena Air Base, Japan, to get to medical care in Hawaii.

"We did everything we could in our power to make sure we were there to save that baby's life," Millard said. "It was an amazing mission."

"It was a 23-hour day for us and emotions were running high, but the crew made it happen and I was so proud of them," he said. "One day you wake up and think you're going to move cargo and fly and the next thing you know, you're saving a life. That was a momentous occasion. It will be with me for the rest of my life."