Col. Amy Glisson takes command of 10th Air Base Wing

The Air Force Academy thanked one USAFA graduate while welcoming another during a change of command ceremony July 6 at the 10th Air Base Wing headquarters.

Col. Christopher Leonard '97 relinquished command of the wing to Col. Amy Glisson '01.

Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark '86 praised Col. Leonard for his efforts in reopening the 19,000-acre installation during the coronavirus pandemic, overseeing $1.2 billion in construction projects, and taking care of the more that 25,000 military, civilian, family members and retired service members at USAFA.

Col. Leonard — who said it was an incredible honor to serve with those on Team 10 — is headed to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to serve as the director of Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection at Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa.

"Team, it's been an honor of a lifetime. Thank you," he said. "Amy, you're clearly the right person for this job. Your passion, your commitment, your focus, your leadership is evident from our first call months ago. I couldn't be more proud to turn this wing over to you. The 10th clearly deserves the best leader, and you're about to get her."

Col. Glisson arrived at the Academy from Ramstein Air Base where she was commander of the roughly 3,500 personnel with the 86th Mission Support Group.

"After two challenging years in Germany, it feels so good to be back in the U.S. of A," she said.

Early in her previous assignment, Ramstein Air Base was flooded with more than 35,000 Afghan refugees as airlift after airlift brought people to safety during Operation Allies Refuge as America's 20-year war in Afghanistan came to an end.

Six months pregnant, Col. Glisson served as the camp commander, working 20-hour days for five weeks, taking care of people until it was time to care for herself and her now toddler son, Matthew.

As a trained personalist, Col. Glisson says she's continually focused on taking care of the people around her.

"I feel that I was probably the exact right person to be running camp because it wasn't a business and it wasn't a machine, it was taking care of humans," she said.

As the wing commander, Col. Glisson oversees security, medical, engineering, logistics, communications, personnel and other key services.

"I'm excited to roll up my sleeves and get down to the fundamentals of leading this wing and developing future leaders of character," she said.