BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. – Col. Mark C. Dmytryszyn will assume command of the 2nd Bomb Wing, the host wing of Barksdale, from Col. Michael Miller in a ceremony officiated by 8th Air Force commander, Maj. Gen. Mark E. Weatherington, at 10:02 a.m., July 23, 2020.
Due to 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions, the ceremony will be live-streamed, require face coverings and will be limited to a smaller audience.
“We, as both the Second Bomb Wing and members of Team Barksdale, as appreciative members of the host communities of Shreveport and Bossier, the great state of Louisiana, and the wider Ark-La-Tex, will remain uncompromising in our pursuit of offering a safe, secure, and welcoming installation,” Dmytryszyn said. “Together, we will provide the nation with winning combat power through conventional and nuclear global strike, through worldwide-deployable Airmen and through a resilient and flourishing community.”
Barksdale is one of two Air Force bases with B-52H Stratofortresses providing the Department of Defense with long-range nuclear and conventional combat capabilities. The base is home to both the Air Force Global Strike Command headquarters and the 8th Air Force headquarters.
As a pilot, Dmytryszyn has accumulated more than 3,000 flight hours in the B-52 and multiple other airframes. His most recent previous assignments include Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve deputy commander-support, Iraq; 9th Air Force chief of staff, Shaw AFB, N.C.; and Pacific Air Forces chief of strategy and plans division, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
“One cannot command the Second Bomb Wing without appreciating a rich history that dates back to the U.S. Army Aviation Service’s 1st Day Bombardment Group – of Mister Jiggs, the Mad Bolsheviks turned Raiders, the Red Devils, and what would become the Lobos of the 49th Test,” Dmytryszyn said. “Thanks to the uncompromising professionalism demonstrated by Airmen of the 2nd Bomb Wing and the generations before, the nation has remained safe from existential threat posed by both nonstate actors and great powers.”
Dmytryszyn is the 64th commander of the base dating back 88 years and the 107th commander of the wing/group dating back to the 1st Day Bombardment Group that was founded Sept 1918, in Amanty, France, during WW1.
In 1922, the 1st Day Bombardment Group was renamed the 2nd Bombardment Group and in 1950 was later redesignated as a wing.
For more information, call the 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs Office at 318-456-1015 or email [email protected].