Commander predicts success implementing world's first F-35 wing
by Ashley M. Wright
Team Eglin Public Affairs
10/1/2009 - EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Training the first generation of F- 35 Joint Strike Fighter pilots and maintainers for the next phase of air dominance brings the "privilege of a lifetime" for the new 33rd Fighter Wing commander.
"I'm eager and excited by the challenge of being a part of the next 35 to 50 years of air dominance," said Col. David Hlatky. "It has been more than 50 years since enemies dropped a bomb on our Army and Marines in the field, and we are going to keep it that way between the F-22 and the F-35. The F-35 will deliver precision munitions in ways and places no other aircraft can. A lot is riding on the success of this program...We've got to get it right, and we will."
The wing, which now falls under Air Education and Training Command's 19th Air Force, serves as the Department of Defense's first joint strike fighter organization, Colonel Hlatky said.
"We are building a magnificent joint strike fighter training campus that will house Marines, Sailors, Airmen and at least eight coalition partners," theF-16 pilot said. "Because this is 'Joint,' we are standing up this maintenance and flying training organization a little differently than we have done with other aircraft."
Part of the equation heavily factoring into the success of the wing will be the people, the commander said.
"I'm elated with and impressed with the quality of leaders the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps put in place here before my arrival," Colonel Hlatky said. "These are great people with great ideas, and they are off to a great start."
The colonel said support for the wing extends all the way up the chain of command and is highly visible at the local level as well.
"We are getting a ton of help from all over the base," he said. "Eglin is a great place to work. All of the 'Team Eglin' units are phenomenal to work with."
Colonel Hlatky is no stranger to the area, previously serving as operations officer for the 86th Fighter Weapons Squadron here and as 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group commander at Tyndall AFB. Since his commission as a distinguished graduate from the Air Force Academy in 1989, the colonel worked as a group, squadron, flight and combat mission commander. The former Academic All-American offensive linemen for the Academy football team earned his master's in engineering from Princeton University and studied as a National Security Fellow at Harvard.
The colonel's hard work and accomplishments earned the praise of senior leadership within AETC.
"Colonel Hlatky has demonstrated both the leadership and aeronautical skill needed to establish the 33rd Fighter Wing as the premier joint strike fighter wing, responsible for training F-35 instructors and pilots for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coalition," said Maj. Gen. Gregory Feest, 19th Air Force commander. "I have no doubt he and the 33rd will excel in producing our military's next generation of front-line aviators."
The husband and father of two recently gained more joint services and allied nations experience to use during his time at the wing. Colonel Hlatky recently returned from a year-long deployment working as public finance management action group chair at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. In fact, fulfilling the requirements of diverse customers is one of the items Colonel Hlatky looks forward to the most, he said.
"The obvious [reason for excitement] is the airplane, but the people side, the joint side, the coalition side," the commander said, "having just lived that for a year in Iraq, I am excited about those opportunities. We will be more effective as we learn from each other and adopt strengths into our organization. This is the privilege of a lifetime for all of us, especially me."
