JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- Members of the 62nd Airlift Wing welcomed their new commander during a change of command ceremony June 14.

Col. R. Wyn Elder took command of the 62nd AW from Col. Kevin Kilb, who will be retiring after more than 22 years of Air Force service. Lt. Gen. Robert Allardice, 18th Air Force commander at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., officiated over the ceremony.

"What you do matters," said Colonel Elder in his first address as the new commander. "We save lives, whether it's after a humanitarian disaster, or rapidly flying a wounded soldier back to medical care, or airdropping resupplies to a Special Forces team, or taking convoys off the road."

Colonel Elder was previously stationed at Altus Air Force Base, Okla., where he served as the 97th Air Mobility Wing vice commander. He also has served as commander of the 817th Airlift Squadron at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, and special assistant to the commander at U.S. Joint Forces Command at Norfolk Naval Station, Va.

Having been previously assigned to the 62nd AW, as the 4th Airlift Squadron commander, Colonel Elder is more than prepared to take on the challenges of being the wing commander and leading the way in combat airlift.

"Combat airlift underpins the ability of our nation to achieve national security objectives, including the two operations we are involved in right now in Afghanistan and Iraq," said Colonel Elder. "More than 30 percent of supplies are delivered by air, that's four times more than any other war in history."

Colonel Elder entered the Air Force in 1991 as a graduate of the ROTC program at the University of Virginia. He is a senior pilot with more than 2,800 flight hours in the C-17, KC-135 Stratotanker, T-1 Jayhawk, T-38 Talon and T-37 Tweet.

He is now responsible for nearly 2,500 active-duty military and civilian personnel, along with 42 permanently assigned C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.

The 62nd AW is part of Air Mobility Command and provides the Department of Defense a fast, flexible and responsive airlift capability. Together with its Reserve associate wing, the 446th Airlift Wing, the 62nd AW provides a large part of AMC's global reach airlift capability.

"I look forward to working with all of you," said Colonel Elder. "We're writing, or re-writing, the book on combat airlift every day. We are in uncharted waters and that makes it an exciting time to be stationed and the 62nd Airlift Wing!"