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Chief picks 7 O-5s, O-6s for fellows program

Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley has hand-selected seven colonels and lieutenant colonels for a new program that is designed to groom some of the Air Force’s most talented officers for future leadership positions, the Air Force announced Thursday.

The officers will serve one or two years in the Chief of Staff of the Air Force’s Fellows program in lieu of assignments as group or vice wing commanders.

They will be assigned to positions intended to broaden their experience and perspective in areas such as national military strategy, national defense policy and international relations, Air Force spokesman Capt. Tom Wenz said. The assignments could include positions at the U.S. Embassy in China, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, National Security Council or with the chief of naval operations, he said.

After completing the program, the officers will be considered for operational wing command or equivalent positions, according to the Air Force press release.

Moseley has said the Air Force needs to do a better job preparing its officers to compete for top positions in the joint commands. The only joint commands headed by Air Force officers are U.S. Transportation Command under Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, U.S. Strategic Command under Gen. Kevin P. Chilton and U.S. Northern Command under Gen. Victor E. Renuart.

The officers selected represent a broad cross-section of the Air Force’s functional areas, including space, fighters, bombers, mobility, special operations and intelligence. The officers are:

— Lt. Col. Gary W. Henderson, a senior developmental education student at the NATO Defense College in Rome. He is a command pilot with more than 4,400 flying hours in the HH-60G Pave Hawk, UH-1 Huey and T-38 Talon.

— Lt. Col. David A. Krumm, commander of the 43rd Fighter Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. He is a command pilot with more than 2,600 flying hours in the F-15 Eagle and F-22 Raptor. Krumm served as initial cadre for the F-22.

— Col. Michael T. Plehn, commander of the 27th Special Operations Group at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. He is a senior navigator with more than 1,900 hours as an electronic warfare officer on the AC-130 gunship, including more than 330 combat hours.

— Col. Kathleen C. Sakura, deputy director for joint staff intelligence support for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. She has served as deputy director for intelligence in the National Military Command Center and as commander of the 24th Intelligence Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

— Col. Jeffrey B. Taliaferro, an Air Force Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is a command pilot with more than 2,400 flying hours in the B-1B Lancer and T-38 Talon.

— Col. Stephen N. Whiting, commander of the 614th Air and Space Operations Center and director of the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. He has served as an operations officer, flight commander and squadron commander.

— Col. John M. Wood, deputy commander of the 60th Operations Group at Travis Air Force Base, Calif. He is a command pilot with more than 3,800 flying hours, primarily in the T-38 Talon, C-130 Hercules and KC-10 Extender.