Air Force Materiel Command: vice commander's retirement sparks series of AFMC moves.

Air Force officials announced Oct. 8 that Lt. Gen. Charles Coolidge Jr., vice commander, Air Force Materiel Command, will retire following a 36-year Air Force career effective Jan. 1, 2004.

The president has nominated Lt. Gen. Richard Reynolds, presently the Aeronautical Systems Center commander at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to be the next AFMC vice commander.

Coolidge has been AFMC's second in charge since February 2000. His career took him to duties in a dozen states and a handful of foreign countries. He commanded three Air Force wings and served on the staffs of four major commands. He also served on the Joint Staff and was that body's representative to the United States-U.S.S.R. Standing Consultative Commission, which met biannually in Geneva. The general is a command pilot with approximately 4,000 flying hours.

Reynolds, once confirmed by the Senate, is slated to take on AFMC's vice commander duties which include helping manage a major command employing more than 80,000 military members and Defense Department civilians. They conduct research, development, test and evaluation and provide the acquisition management and logistics support necessary for Air Force weapons systems to operate in war and peace.

Coolidge's retirement and Reynolds' subsequent move to AFMC headquarters sparked a series of senior officer moves in AFMC units. They are: Lt. Gen. William Looney will leave his post as Electronic Systems Center commander at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., to replace Reynolds as Aeronautical Systems Center commander. ESC develops and acquires electronic command and control systems that gather and analyze information on potentially hostile forces, enabling commanders to make quick decisions and rapidly pass them on to their forces.

The president nominated Maj. Gen. Charles Johnson II for promotion to lieutenant general and, with approval by the Senate, he will be assigned as the new Electronic Systems Center commander as Looney departs. Johnson is currently the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center commander at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. Maj. Gen. Terry Gabreski will leave her post as AFMC's logistics director to take on the Oklahoma City ALC commander duties as Johnson departs. The center is one of three air logistics centers in the command and maintains and repairs a variety of aircraft including bombers, refuelers, and reconnaissance aircraft. Many crucial airborne accessories are also maintained at Tinker.

Brig, Gen. Gary McCoy will take on the AFMC logistics director duties as Gabreski departs. McCoy is currently the Air Force maintenance deputy director in the deputy chief of staff for installations and logistics office in the Pentagon.

Allen Beckett, a civilian in the senior executive service, will move from the principal assistant deputy under secretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness in the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics office in the Pentagon to take over McCoy's duties. Dates for formal change of command ceremonies have not been determined.