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Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

‘Georgia boy’ takes command of 78th Air Base Wing

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE — Col. Carl E. Buhler took command of the 78th Air Base Wing during a Wednesday morning ceremony at the Museum of Aviation. Buhler succeeds Col. Warren Berry, who was reassigned to the Pentagon after three years in command of the unit.

Buhler will now be charged with commanding the unit that oversees all logistical and community operations for Robins Air Force Base. While he is not the most senior officer on the base — that title falls to Maj. Gen. Polly A. Peyer, who presided over the change of command ceremony — Buhler is given the title of installation commander.

Buhler called the assignment “a thrill for a Georgia boy like myself.” Buhler graduated from Valdosta State University with a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics. He has since earned three master’s degrees in human relations, national security studies and national resource strategy.

The 78th Air Base Wing includes airmen currently serving in Afghanistan. The cross-Atlantic mission of the unit is nothing new to Buhler. His previous assignment was Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, an Air Force materiel depot for units deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Just thinking about the honor that we collectively have, by supporting the delivery and sustainment of combat-ready air power, as well as the myriad of organizations on Robins, chills me to the bone,” he told a formation of airmen now under his command. “At the end of the day, this wing is critical to the creation of that air power. It’s our ultimate mission.”

Berry’s new mission is inside the Washington beltway, where he will work as a strategist for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Berry told the 78th Air Base Wing airmen that Buhler is “an Air Force leader that I know will be better than I. That’s just the Air Force way.”

Peyer, the commanding general of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, punctuated her remarks during the ceremony by noting how “very much alike these two colonels are.” Both Buhler and Berry were born into military families stationed in Europe, both were commissioned through the Reserve Officer Training Corps and both were reared as maintenance officers.

“Those of you who are concerned about change,” Peyer said, “I would offer to you that there is some stability in this change because you are getting a commander who has very much the same background as your previous commander.”

To contact writer Thomas L. Day, call 923-6199, extension 239.