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Hoosier Wing welcomes new vice commander

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jeremy Blocker
  • 434th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

The 434th Air Refueling Wing introduces the new vice commander, Col. Frederick Kuehn.

Before Kuehn became a member of the Grissom family, he was a joint aerospace operations officer at Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia.

In 2001, Kuehn earned his Air Force commission as a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to fly airplanes,” said Kuehn. “I joined the Air Force ROTC program to make that dream come true.”

Kuehn would stay true to those words when he was assigned to the 16th Airlift Squadron to fly the C-17 Globemaster III at Charleston AFB, SC.

He would then leave active duty in 2007 to join the Air Force Reserve.

While being in the Reserve, Kuehn would continue to deploy and fly missions all around the world.

Kuehn served in many missions such as Operation UNIFIED RESPONSE, where he helped lead a command and control team that set multiple Air Force Reserve Command records for contingency response.

The new vice commander is not fazed by the change of scenery when being at Grissom. Kuehn has been stationed all across the country so the rural area is something that he is already accustomed to.

“I lived in a lot of places,” Kuehn said. “Active duty took me to Florida, South Carolina, and Oklahoma. On the reserve side, I was stationed in Delaware and California. Growing up, I lived in New Jersey. So, I have seen a lot of different parts of the country. I will say that Indiana is such a beautiful place.”

Throughout his Air Force career, Kuehn has earned many decorations such as the aerial achievement, humanitarian service, and military outstanding volunteer service medals.

Kuehn hopes to have a positive influence on the careers and lives of the Airmen at Grissom. By doing this, he has laid out some goals for himself to achieve.

“I want to do my best to take care of our Airmen,” Kuehn stated. “That’s my number one priority. If we take care of our people then we can take care of the mission.”

Kuehn had a lot of positive things to say about the Hoosier Wing. He says working at Grissom as the vice commander is a lot different than when he worked at Norfolk. There is a lot of responsibility in his hands but he says that he is ready and able for the challenge.

“We do an awesome job,” said Kuehn. “We do two important things and we do them well. Supply air refueling and supply the people and capabilities to help the Air Force do a lot of missions even beyond air refueling.”

Kuehn says that there is a lot of work to be done but he is excited to be a part of the 434th Air Refueling Wing.

Stay connected, visit Grissom on Facebook and Twitter. The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. Men and women from the Hoosier Wing routinely deploy around the world in support of the Air Force mission.

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Public Affairs Staff

Material contained on the Official Grissom Air Reserve Base Internet Web Site is written and produced by members of the 434th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs Office. The award-winning staff includes:

Douglas Hays
Chief, public affairs

Maj. Elias Zani
Public affairs officer

Josh Weaver
Public affairs operations chief

Master Sgt. Josh Weaver
NCOIC of public affairs

Master Sgt. Rachel Barton
Staff writer

Tech. Sgt. Alexa Culbert
Staff writer

Senior Airman Alexis Morris
Staff writer

Airman 1st Class Elise Faurote
Staff writer