Home > USASOC > UNS > 130906-02
RELEASE NUMBER: 130906-02
DATE POSTED: September 06, 2013
USASOC Flight Company welcomes new commander
Staff Sgt. Thaddius S. Dawkins II
USASOAC Public Affairs NCO
SIMMONS ARMY AIRFIELD, FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, September 06, 2013)– The paratroopers from the United States Army Special Operations Command Flight Company (UFC) welcomed a new commander during a ceremony Tuesday.
Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Curtis P. Adams replaced Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Thomas G. Travis, in what is a rare opportunity in the Army to command a company as a Chief Warrant Officer 5.
“I’m a believer that units take on the personality of their commander, and I believe that’s certainly the case here,” said Clayton M. Hutmacher, ceremony host and commanding general of the United States Army Special Operations Aviation Command (USASOAC). “It’s a great personality that I see in the USASOC Flight Company, and Tom, my credit goes to you and [wife] Jennifer in the way that you’ve led the company over the last two and a half years.”
During his time in command, Travis saw the UFC make the transition from a detachment to a company and provided critical input needed for the UFC’s request for C27J Spartan aircraft to replace their current CASA-212s.
With the addition of C27Js, the UFC would be able to transport a larger number of personnel during training and airborne operations.
“Since being in command, UFC aircraft have jumped well over 60,000 static line jumpers and 10,000 free-fall jumpers,” said Travis, who completed the United States Army Jumpmaster course while in command. “Now consider we do it all 10 to 12 jumpers at a time, with the average from takeoff to the go command is about four minutes.”
“Simply put, nobody else in the military can do what we do,” he said.
“CW5 Adams will face far different challenges than I did, and I firmly believe he will make the company better than when he found it,” he went on to say. “Curtis, I urge you to make the unit your own and take it to the next level.”
Adams assumed command after serving as the Battalion Standardization Pilot and Senior Warrant Officer for 2nd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Command (Airborne).
“Tom has been an integral part of this unit and its mission for some time,” Adams said. “Any success we have coming up, whether it’s the [potential] movement to Pope [Army Airfield] or fielding the C27J, I owe that to the volumes of hard work that you, the Soldiers, civilians and contractors have done prior to this moment.”
In closing his speech, Adams ensured everyone in attendance he will not take his new role lightly.
“Sir, thank you for this opportunity and your trust, I will not let you down,” he said to Hutmacher for the chance to lead the UFC. “For everybody present, I commit that I will do everything to continue on with the excellence that Tom and the former commanders, Soldiers, civilians and contractors have done over the previous years.”