New commander takes charge at Hill AFB

HILL AIR FORCE BASE — In steadfast tradition of peaceful change of power, Maj. Gen. Kathie Close yielded command of the Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill Air Force Base on Thursday.

Close expected to leave the base Thursday on her way across the country to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, where she will assume the title of director of logistics for Air Force Materiel Command.

Close's recent assignment at Hill was her second, and she'll enter her third assignment July 20 at Wright-Patterson.

Materiel command oversees operations at three air logistics centers, whose mission is to make sure planes and missiles are ready for combat.

Maj. Gen. (Select) Andrew Busch is now the commander of the center's four wings — 75th Air Base Wing, 309th Maintenance Wing, 508th Aerospace Sustainment Wing and the 84th Combat Sustainment Wing — that support Hill's work on F-16s, A-10s and Thunderbolt and Minuteman missiles.

The change-of-command ceremony Thursday was the second in a week. On Tuesday, Col. Scott Dennis relinquished command of the 388th Fighter Wing to Col. Scott Zobrist, who will continue readying his airmen for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.

Zobrist is a former commander of the 421st Fighter Squadron, which belongs to the 388th. He was last stationed at Hill between 2000 and 2003.

Dennis' new assignment is to the Pentagon, where he will be the director of air operations at Air Force headquarters.

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