HAFB officer eager for new post — on the ground

HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Being selected to work in the Pentagon is gratifying for Col. Scott Dennis.

His new assignment is going to let him rub shoulders with top U.S. Air Force officials while gaining a new perspective on policies that concern the Air Force's air operations.

Dennis expects that his new assignment, director of air operations, will allow him to help shape policies on unmanned aerial vehicles, which are playing a growing role in the Air Force's missions.

But flying planes is not part of Dennis' new job description.

It will be a new world, just as his previous assignment gave him new experience that he could impart to young airmen at Hill Air Force Base.

Before coming to Hill Air Force Base as commander of the 388th Fighter Wing, Dennis served from June 2006 until July 2007 as commander of 332nd Expeditionary Operations Group at Balad Air Base in Iraq.

He ran 11 squadrons, which flew sorties around the clock. That meant he was also awake around the clock on more than one occasion.

But his time in Iraq gave him the chance to see young airmen in action and pulling together with soldiers and Marines to get a job done.

Now, back in the United States for nearly two years, Dennis has gotten his weekends back. And he's also managed to keep up on what he originally joined the Air Force in 1985 to do — fly fighter jets.

Dennis gets to fly 10 times in a month, if he's lucky. Every little bit adds on to his more than 3,400 hours in the air. After completing pilot training in 1987, he was assigned to Moody Air Force Base, in Georgia, where he received more advanced training, similar to the training he provides to new pilots at Hill.

He became an instructor pilot, and as he advanced in his career, more teaching opportunities arose. In 1993, he taught at the Air Force's Fighter Weapons School. It was there that he met now-Col. Scott Zobrist, the man who will take over for Dennis at Hill.

Zobrist is currently the director of operations for U.S. Forces Japan at Yokota Air Base.

A change-of-command ceremony is scheduled for June 30. It will be the second of three such changes planned for 2009 at Hill Air Force Base.

Earlier this year, reassignments to Air Force Materiel Command headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio were announced for Maj. Gen. Kathleen Close, commander of the Ogden Air Logistics Center, and Col. Linda Medler, former commander of the 75th Air Base Wing.