Colonel Durham to become Patriot Wing's commander June 4

  • Published
  • By by Master Sgt. Andrew Biscoe
  • 439th Airlift Wing
The Patriot Wing's 15th wing commander is scheduled to assume the leadership of one of the largest Air Force Reserve wings June 4.
Col. D. Scott Durham, who commands the reserve’s 512th Airlift Wing at Dover Air Force Base, Del., will replace Brig. Gen. Jay Jensen June 4.
Jensen is headed to his new assignment at the Pentagon, where he'll be the Director of Air Force Reserve Programs and Requirements. He
took command of the 439th in March 2016.
Durham has accumulated 27 years of service, with his first 13 spent in
the active-duty Air Force. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in political
science, international relations and military affairs from the Citadel
Military College, and a master’s of arts degree in strategic studies from the Air University at Maxwell AFB, Ala.
Before taking command of the 512th at Dover AFB, Durham was Deputy Director for Mobilization in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs in Washington, D.C. He has accrued more than 5,000 hours flying numerous types of military aircraft including the C-5, C-130, and C-17.
Durham began his military career when he graduated from the Reserve
Officer Training Corps at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina.
He served as an Air Traffic Controller, a C-130E Pilot and a C-17A Pilot while on active duty. During this time, he flew numerous combat missions supporting operations in Kosovo, Hungary, Iraq and Afghanistan. Durham was part of the initial cadre of Special Operations Low Level II qualified C-17 pilots and was a key player in establishing that Joint Chiefs of Staff mission at Charleston AFB, S.C. He was commissioned in the Air Force Reserve in May 2003, following
13 years of active-duty service. Among his assignments, he served on the Headquarters AFRC staff as the Command C-17 Evaluator Pilot, as a Director of Operations for a C-17 airlift squadron and as the Commander of an airlift operations group. He was selected to serve as the Senior Executive Officer to the Chief of the Air Force Reserve
and the Commander, Air Force Reserve Command. Prior to leading the 512th AW, he was the Deputy Director for Mobilization in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Pentagon, Washington D.C.
The 439th AW is the host unit at Westover, which by land mass is the largest reserve base in the country. The wing has flown C-5s since 1987, and is converting to the modernized C-5M Super Galaxy beginning in June.