By John Andrew Prime
[email protected]
The commander of the 917th Wing, a combined B-52 bomber and A-10
fighter unit at Barksdale Air Force Base, has been nominated by
President George W. Bush for promotion to brigadier general.
Col. Robert O. Tarter, a Lake Charles native who assumed command of
the 917th Wing in April, is one of 15 colonels Bush nominated for a
first star in selections announced Nov. 22. He was one of six Air
Force Reserve Command wing commanders tagged for promotion.
Tarter entered Air Force service in 1976 after commissioning
through the ROTC program at Baylor University, where he was
designated a distinguished graduate. He entered active service in
early 1977 and had operational assignments flying the A-10, as well
as headquarters staff positions at headquarters, U.S. Air Forces in
Europe, Ramstein Air Base in Germany, 10th Air Force, at the Naval
Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, Texas, and at Air
Force headquarters at the Pentagon.
Unusual for a wing commander and brigadier general-select, he is a
traditional reservist, with a civilian job as a captain for Delta
Air Lines.
Rated as a command pilot, Tarter has some 3,600 military and 6,000
civilian flight hours in the T-37 and T-38 trainers, the A-10
fighter, the McDonnell Douglas MD-88 and MD-90, and Boeing 737, 757
and 767 jets.
Nine brigadier generals were named for elevation to two-star rank
as well, and among that number was former Shreveport attorney James
Graves, who served in the 917th Wing as its vice commander from
October 1997 to April 2000.
Prior to that, he was commander of the 47th Fighter Squadron and
commander of the 917th Operations Support Squadron, both at
Barksdale. He was an A-10 pilot, weapons officer, instructor and
flight examiner, flight commander and assistant operations officer
with the 47th from November 1981 to November 1994.
Since leaving Barksdale, Graves has served as mobilization
assistant to the director of plans and programs at Headquarters Air
Combat Command, at Langley Air Force Base, Va., and as mobilization
assistant to the commander at the Air University, Air Education and
Training Command, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. Since April, he has
served as mobilization assistant to the commander of Pacific Air
Forces at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.
Graves is also rated as a command pilot, with 4,000 military flying
hours and 2,000 civilian hours. Graves' hours are in the T-37 and
T-38 trainer and the RF-4, A-37, A-10 and B-52 combat aircraft. His
military hours include combat missions in Bosnia.
Both promotions are subject to confirmation by the Senate and by
the direction of the chief of Air Force Reserve.
Sauce :
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051204/NEWS01/512040314/1002/NEWS