Westover command chief selected for 22nd AF

  • Published
  • By MSgt. Andrew Biscoe
  • 439th AW Public Affairs
WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. --  The Patriot Wing's senior enlisted Airman will soon take the same job -- one level higher in the Air Force Reserve chain of command.

CMSgt. Michael Thorpe will become the 22nd Air Force Command Chief Feb. 1, replacing CMSgt. Steven Larwood.

Maj. Gen. Mark Kyle, 22nd AF commander, selected CMSgt. Thorpe for this position. The numbered Air Force headquarters is located at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga.

"As my tenure comes to a close and I move on to 22nd to take on a new role, know that the Patriot Wing will also have a special place in my heart," CMSgt Thorpe said. "The life lessons I have learned over the past 25 years will serve me well. The most important decision I have ever made in my life was to enlist in the Patriot Wing. The missions may change but there is one constant -- your loyalty and dedication. It has truly been an honor."

Twenty-Second AF has command supervision of the Reserve's air mobility operations and other vital mission sets to include undergraduate pilot training, flight test operations and a highly mobile civil engineering response force. It includes more than 15,000 reservists and 105 unit-equipped aircraft.

CMSgt. Thorpe has been the command chief with the 439th Airlift Wing at Westover since May 2011. He joined the Air Force Reserve in 1988.