Lieutenant Colonel Nikkila accepts command of US Air Force 722 Air Control Squadron from Deputy Commander of the Canadian NORAD Region, Brigadier General Wilson Thurday during the official Change of Command Ceremony.
Lieutenant Colonel Nikkila accepts command of US Air Force 722 Air Control Squadron from Deputy Commander of the Canadian NORAD Region, Brigadier General Wilson Thurday during the official Change of Command Ceremony.It was an emotional change of command at the US Air Force 722 Air Control Squadron at CFB North Bay Thursday as Lieutenant Colonel David Johnson relinquished command to Lieutenant Colonel DeWayne Nikkila.
Using a Robert Frost poem to describe his tour of duty in the Bay, Johnson said this was the best posting in his career and that he reluctantly surrendered his command, a notion that was keenly supported by his friend and former commander of CFB North Bay /Wing 22 Colonel Martin Galvin who was present for the ceremony. But Johnson did say it was a bit easier handing over the reins knowing that they were going to the capable hands of Colonel Nikkila.
Johnson will leave North Bay to attend the Air War College, Air University, at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
Nikkila is promoted from Director of Operations for the squadron. He says with the busy year ahead that includes the Vancouver Olympics and the G-8 Summit continuity played an important in Johnson’s successor.
“It is absolutely critical and it is one of the reasons I am staying here,” he states.
“Because I am certified as a battle commander as well as a director of operations, what that means is I’m a conduit between the tactical levels of what the Canadian Air Sector does and what the Canadian NORAD region does all the way through Winnipeg up to NORAD Cheyenne Mountain.”
Nikkila Video
