An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

586th AEG welcomes new commander

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Lindsey Maurice
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  The 586th Air Expeditionary Group rendered its first salute to new commander, Col. Jorge Acevedo, after he took command of the unit from Col. John Williams during a change of command ceremony Jan. 3, 2010 at an air base in Southwest Asia.

Colonel Acevedo comes to the 586th AEG from Langley Air Force Base, Va., where he was the Air Combat Command Logistics Readiness Division chief.

"Colonel Gordy, I want to personally thank you for giving me the opportunity to command yet one more time and entrusting the awesome responsibility of leading this fantastic group of Airmen," said Colonel Acevedo. "To the men and women of the 586th AEG, I can honestly tell you that I am indeed honored to be joining your team."

During the ceremony, Col. John R. Gordy II, 386th Air Expeditionary Wing commander, spoke of the positive impact Colonel Williams had on the 586th AEG over the last six months of his command and the positive impact he anticipates Colonel Acevedo will have on the unit over the next six months.

"Under Colonel Williams' command, the 586th AEG smashed all records in protecting and delivering cargo to Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines in the fight," said Colonel Gordy. "Under his watch, they completed 195 convoys delivering more than 295 tons of cargo over seven million convoy miles, carrying more than 60 percent of line-haul cargo and maintaining the highest vehicle in-commission rate for the Army. Additionally, they performed more than 1,000 security patrols and flew more than 1,500 unmanned aerial vehicle [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] sorties."

"Colonel Williams not only provided great leadership to get the mission done, but he worked tirelessly for his Airmen to ensure they had the resources to do the mission and most importantly mended some very important fences with our Army partners, and ensured our withdraw from our [joint expeditionary taskings] in Iraq was done both efficiently and expeditiously; simultaneously standing up a new squadron to take care of our newest JET Airmen performing personnel, casualty and religious support for our joint partners."

Colonel Gordy commended the outgoing commander's vision and leadership.

"No one has done a better job of caring for their Airmen and ensuring they were prepared to execute the mission," he said.

The colonel continued by addressing the new 586th AEG commander about the confidence he has in his leadership abilities to command such a premier unit.

"Congratulations and welcome to the fight and to the best wing in the [area of responsibility]," he told Colonel Acevedo. "There's no doubt in my mind that you are the right person to step in and take this group to even greater heights. Your extensive background in logistics will serve you and our Airmen very well as we prepare and execute the responsible withdraw from Iraq."

Colonel Acevedo is a career logistics officer who has commanded at the squadron and group levels and has had assignments on the air staff and U.S. Central Command staff.

As commander of the 586th AEG, Colonel Acevedo oversees two squadrons at five geographically separated locations. He is responsible for providing more than 650 ground-combat Airmen filling U.S. Army combat support and combat service support requirements in Southwest Asia bases. The group's Airmen conduct combat logistics convoys, personnel support operations, explosive detection and chapel ministry.