Massachusetts Air National Guard's 104th Fighter Wing Awards Ceremony and New leadership Change of Commands Published Aug. 24, 2016 Barnes Air National Guard Base -- Media Advisory Release No. 16-16 Contact: Senior Master Sgt. Julie Avey, Public Affairs Specialist Lt. Col. Brenda Hendricksen, Public Affairs Officer 413-568-9151 ext. 698-1299 or ext. 698-1800 Cell: (619) 665-4252 usaf.ma.104-fw.list.pa@mail.mil August 11, 2016 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Massachusetts Air National Guard's 104th Fighter Wing Awards Ceremony and New leadership Change of Commands (8/11/2016 - Barnes Air National Guard Base, Westfield, Mass.) - The 104th Fighter Wing will present four major awards and perform a significant number of Change of Commands during a ceremony, Saturday, August 13, at 1 p.m. Media are invited to attend this event and must register with the 104th Fighter Wing Public Affairs office by calling before 10:00 a.m., Saturday, August 13, 2016. All media will arrive at Barnes Air National Guard Base no later than 12:30 a.m. Below are the various awards and command changes. 104th Fighter Wing Awards - The Legion of Merit presented to Col. Edward J. Gunning Jr. - Allowed for the successful stand up of the Northeast aerospace alert mission. - Accepting 2015 Continental United States North American Aerospace Defense Command Region/ 1st Air Force Air Control Alert Unit of the Year - Chief Master Sgt. Robert Roy, ACA Superintendent. The Wing was selected as the best Air Control Alert unit throughout the Air Force. - The 2015 Air Forces North Air Control Alert Maintainer of the Year presented to Staff Sgt. Trevor Tompkins, Northampton native. - Tompkins was selected as the best maintainer of all Air Force ACA units. - The Massachusetts Air National Guard Non-Commissioned officer of 2016 presented to Staff Sgt. Coakley. - Deployed to Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Freedom Sentinel. 104th Fighter Wing Assumption and Change of Commands - Brig. Gen. Sean Collins will relinquish command of the 104th Medical Group to Lt. Col. Gary Archambault. - Lt. Col. David Halasikun will relinquish command of the 131st Fighter Squadron to Lt. Col. Jeffrey Beckel. - Lt. Col. Jared Conaboy will assume command of Operations Support Flight - Lt. Col. Steven Reynolds will relinquish command of the Security Forces to Maj. Vincent Heitman - Maj. Dean Lambert will assume command of Force Support Squadron - Lt. Col. Michael Dibrindisi will relinquish command of the maintenance squadron to Maj. Keith Tatlock and accept Command of the Aircraft Maintenance Squadron from Lt. Col. Pete Carr. -- 30 - Read more on the 104th Fighter Wing here: Air Force Officials Announce Barnes Air National Guard Base as a candidate base for the F-35A http://www.104fw.ang.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123475814 ANG Verifies Strengths at Frisian Flag 2016, Operation Atlantic Resolve https://www.dvidshub.net/news/196341/ang-verifies-strengths-frisian-flag-2016-operation-atlantic-resolve 104th Fighter Wing Maintainer of the Year Protects U.S. Air Space in Northeast https://www.dvidshub.net/news/199022/104th-fighter-wing-maintainer-year-protects-us-air-space-northeast 104th Fighter Wing Named Air Control Alert Unit of the Year http://www.104fw.ang.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123470460 Native Western Massachusetts Guardsman Nurse to Serve Assistant Secretary of Defense, Health Affairs https://www.dvidshub.net/news/201937/native-western-massachusetts-guardsman-nurse-serve-assistant-secretary-defense-health-affairs