Air Dominance C e n t e r Gets New Commander
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S t o r y C o u r t e s e y o f S ava n n a h M o r n i n g N e w s
n just more than a year at the helm of the Georgia Air National Guard’s Savannah combat training facility, Air Force Col. Thomas Grabowski has overseen large changes. During his tenure, the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center switched missions to focus primarily on combat training for fighter jet pilots, changed its name to the Air Dominance Center, hosted scores of fighter units in widescale training exercises, and battled through substantial personnel cuts. And even through that period of great change, the Air Dominance Center has thrived, said Air Force Brig. Gen. Jesse Simmons, the commander of the Georgia Air National Guard. Grab owski “has b e en tenacious, transparent … and he has led from the front, he hardly sleeps and has the mind of a marketing executive,” Simmons said Friday at the facility at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport during a ceremony in which Grabowski relinquished command of the unit to Col. Emmanuel Haldopoulos. “He has been the perfect person for the Air Dominance Center at this time in its history.”
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Grabowski, who will move to Robbins Air Force Base and serve as vice commander of 116th Air Control Wing, thanked the men and women of the Air Dominance Center for making his tenure successful. “I don’t know during my 30 years in the Air Force of a unit that was gutted by 50 percent and then doubled their production, re-engineered their entire strategic plan and mission statement and went from a Cold War-defunct training center to a cuttingedge, fighter-integration training base,” Grabowski said. “None of that was me. All I did was run around and be your cheerleader. You guys are unprecedented awesome, and I salute each and every one of you.” Haldopoulos, Simmons said, was an easy choice to take command of the Air Dominance Center as it continues to innovate in fighter pilot training. “We would not let just anyone take over this Air Dominance Center,” Simmons said. “We need this unit to continue moving forward, to continue to find better, more positive ways to move our nation’s warriors forward into combat, and to keep them prepared. “(Haldopoulos) is a proven leader with many accolades with recent command under
his belt.” T h e n e w c o m m a n d e r, w h o w a s promoted to colonel during the ceremony, comes to Savannah from Robbins AFB, where he most recently served as the deputy commander of the 116th Operations Group of the 116th Air Control Wing. Throughout his career he’s served as a pilot in B-1 Bombers and an E-8C JSTARS. The new assignment, Haldopoulos said, is an exciting opportunity “in a wonderful location.” “The mission here, in transition as it is, and as successful as Col. Grabowski, my predecessor, has made it — I can’t wait to continue in his footsteps and take it to the next level,” he said. “He and all the people that work along with him have done an amazing job.” In the coming months the Air Dominance Center will host several fighter jet exercises. “You’re going to see an increase,” Haldopoulos said. “You’re not going to see probably the huge amount of aircraft (at one time), but more of a reduced number of them more frequently. “That’s my forecast for the next two years.”