New commander for 174th Fighter Wing

Updated: 05/04/2008 03:54 PM
By: Web Staff

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The 174th Fighter Wing introduces a new commander. They held a ceremony Sunday at Hancock Field. Colonel Kevin Bradley was promoted from Vice Wing Commander during the ceremony.

Colonel Bradley was born and raised in the Southern Tier and has been with the 174th since 1991. He will take over for Colonel Anthony Basile, who is headed to Albany after commanding the 174th for the last five years.

Both men say they are ready to face the new challenges that lay ahead.

"It’s not about Kevin Bradley, it's about the position of the 174th Fighter Wing commander. I'm just occupying this chair for a period of time, then somebody will take my spot, then somebody will take their spot and somebody will take their spot. So that's our natural order of business," Colonel Bradley said.

"I’ve been on this base longer than a lot of the folks who work on this base have been on the planet. I went to pilot training in 1980 and my whole career’s been here. I started as a 2nd Lieutenant and worked myself to the highest seat on the base. I'm definitely leaving my comfort zone," Colonel Basile said.

The 174th Fighter Wing will be deploying to Iraq later this year.

Source (video included): http://news10now.com/default.aspx?ArID=115419

Change of Command for 174th Fighter Wing

Last Update: 5/04 7:46 pm

Syracuse, New York (WSYR-TV) - The 174th fighter wing at Hancock Air Field has a new commander as of Sunday afternoon. The change of command has been transfered to Col. Kevin Bradley.

Col. Anthony Basile is leaving the position that he's held since 2003, because he has been nominated to be the head of the New York Air National Guard. Basile is expected to start his new position in January 2009.

Source (two videos included): http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story.a ... mp;rss=112

174th Fighter Wing gets new commander

by Michele Reaves
Sunday May 04, 2008, 2:21 PM

Mattydale, NY - The 174th Fighter Wing of the New York Air National Guard got a new commander today.

Col. Kevin W. Bradley, 49, assumed leadership of the base after a change of command ceremony at 12:45 p.m.

Bradley replaced Col. Anthony Basile, 52, who will become head of the New York Air National Guard next year.

Bradley had been the unit's vice wing commander. He joined the 174th Fighter Wing in 1992.

Source: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/ ... ew_co.html

New leader takes over 174th at Hancock

Monday, May 05, 2008
By Marnie Eisenstadt Staff writer

The squeaks of rubber-soled shoes echoed in the ordered calm of an airplane hangar at Hancock Field Sunday afternoon.

Hundreds of citizens lined up in their battle fatigues to watch the command of the 174th Fighter Wing of the New York Air National Guard change hands.

Col. Anthony Basile, who has led the Mattydale-based fighter wing since 2003, handed over the command to Col. Kevin Bradley, who had been Basile's second-in-command.

Bradley takes charge as more than 300 of the part-time military plan to go to war. They will leave their civilian jobs and families for Iraq starting at the beginning of this summer.

Basile is moving up to take over the command of the state's entire Air National Guard operation.

Basile said he wanted to leave the command before the troops were sent to war so Bradley could oversee that operation. Basile has already been in charge of two deployments: in 2003 and 2007.

Basile's departure also begins the end of another era at Hancock Field. This mission to Iraq will be the last flight for the F-16 fighter jets. Starting this fall, the 174th will begin switching over to unmanned airplanes. The Reaper will take the F-16's place starting in 2010, but it will take about 18 months to make the switch, Bradley said.

Bradley said the change means many of the jobs at Hancock will go from blue-collar to white-collar. As he spoke to reporters, Bradley began making his pitch to fill those new jobs: Join up. The new jobs will be high-tech, and they will stay in the Syracuse area.

Basile, a Syracuse native, will head to Albany to take the place of outgoing Maj. Gen. Robert A. Knauff.

After turning over his plane, Basile went to gather his wife and cut a congratulatory cake with his sword. Like an odd wedding, people milled around for a while drinking red punch and coffee in the shadow of a plane about to go war for the last time.

Source: http://www.syracuse.com/articles/news/i ... amp;coll=1

xt;hwt.(M);174th pilot tapped for Guard command

Col. Anthony Basile will leave Mattydale unit to take top state post.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008
By Michele Reaves Staff writer

The leader of the 174th Fighter Wing in Mattydale will become the commander of the New York Air National Guard.

Col. Anthony Basile, 52, who spent more than 25 years with the unit, will leave Sunday to shadow the current commander, Maj. Gen. Robert Knauff, before his retirement next year, said spokesman Capt. Anthony Bucci. The state headquarters is in Latham.

Col. Kevin W. Bradley, 49, will assume Basile's role, Bucci said. Bradley is currently the vice wing commander - second in command - at the Mattydale base. He joined the 174th Fighter Wing in 1992.

The change in command will become a official at a 12:45 p.m. ceremony on Sunday at Hancock Field. The base is at 6001 E. Molloy Road.

Basile, an F-16 and A-10 pilot, became commander of the 174th Fighter Wing in May 2003, Bucci said. He announced to the unit in March that he would be stepping down as commander.

At that time, Basile was eligible for retirement, Bucci said.

On April 12, Basile announced he'd been chosen for the state commander job, Bucci said. The job required an application and interview process.

Basile also has been nominated to become a brigadier general, Bucci said.

Knauff was the commander of the 174th Fighter Wing before being promoted to state commander, Bucci said. Basile was Knauff's vice wing commander.

Source: http://www.syracuse.com/articles/news/i ... amp;coll=1

Interesting that Col. Anthony B. Basile´s first name was shortened "Tony".

Commander Comments - May 2008

Commentary by Col Tony Basile
174 FW, Commander

5/1/2008 - Hancock Field Air National Guard Base Syracuse, NY --
Where has the time gone? I have been on this base longer than many of you reading this article have been on this planet. But it doesn't seem that way. Why is that? Maybe it's because 29 years isn't really that long. Hmmm...... Maybe it's because you supposedly only remember the good things when you look back on a career. Nah..... The memory isn't what it used to be? Warmer, but that's not it either...... No, I know exactly why it hasn't seemed like 29 years for me.........because I have been doing exactly what I have wanted to do, exactly where I wanted to do it for all those years. I'm quite certain that not that many people can honestly say that. Hopefully some of you can.

My 174th career epitomizes the saying "I'd rather be lucky than good". From the fateful circumstances that got me hired here in 1979, to my writing this final Commander's Comments, and everything in between. I graduated from pilot training and climbed into a brand new A-10 (yeah, it smelled like a new car). For the past 20 years, I've had the pleasure to fly arguably the best fighter aircraft in the world; maintained and supported by the world's best Fighter Wing. I have been able to support my community, state and nation, home and abroad, in peacetime and in war. I've enjoyed the zero-responsibility days of being just a young, line fighter pilot, and I've cherished being entrusted with the immense responsibility that comes with being a Fighter Wing Commander. I seemed to have gone from 0 to 53 (years old, not mph) faster than the F-16.

My plan is that sometime this fall, probably September or October, I'll fly my last sortie, bringing to an end another segment of my military career............nearly 28 years in the cockpit. I'm sure I'll miss the challenge and thrill of flying a supersonic fighter. But please believe me when I tell you that it's not the absence of flying that has been keeping me up at night. It's the absence of YOU. YOU are the reason I've been the proud dad at Commander's Conferences, media gatherings, and other events where the details of how YOU blew away some inspection team, or YOU went out into our community to help dig out from some disaster, or YOU went to war when your country needed you. Through the many, many, many great things that have happened to me, YOU have been there to slap me on the back, encourage me to do even better, and tell me how proud you are. When those few bad things happened, YOU were there to give me a hug, encourage me to climb back on, and tell me that YOU were there for me. YOU are why I've stayed so long. The airplanes, they're just metal.

I can't tell you how proud I am to have been selected to succeed Major General Knauff as the Chief of Staff, and Commander of the New York Air National Guard. I am proud of being an officer of my nation's military, and wasn't quite ready to trade in that uniform for a suit. It is an honor for me to be considered for nomination for Brigadier General, and to be working at the Joint Force Headquarters at the state capital. I know that I was positioned for this opportunity because of YOU, and I sincerely thank you. As proud as I am of this upcoming opportunity, I know that I will NEVER have a job that I am more proud of than the one I am leaving.

My mind, and my body, may be going to Albany, but my heart, and my soul, will always be found at Hancock Field.

Source: http://www.174fw.ang.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123096750