Col. Patrick Rhatigan will succeed Col. Brian Robinson as commander of the 19th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base in a change-of-command ceremony on July 9.
Robinson, who has been the 19th AW commander for 18 months, was recently selected for promotion to brigadier general and will become the vice commander of Air Mobility Command’s 618th Air and Space Operations Center (Tanker Airlift Control Center) at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.
Rhatigan, a 1987 graduate of Bethpage High School on Long Island, N.Y, brings an impressive resume to his new job. Rhatigan, who pinned on his colonel eagles last September, has been deployed to Southwest Asia, where he was the 379th Expeditionary Operations Group commander.
Before that assignment, he served as the military assistant to the assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs in the Pentagon. And before moving to the Pentagon, Rhatigan was commander of the 93rd Air Refueling Squadron at McChord Air Force Base, Wash.
Robinson has served here with distinction, and so will Rhatigan because the Air Force sends us its best. We welcome the colonel to the Rock.