By Maj. Robert Bullock
109th Airlift Wing
STRATTON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, BASE - More than 1,000 members of the 109th Airlift Squadron gathered on Saturday November 7, as Col. Graham Pritchard assumed command of the 109th Airlift Wing in Scotia, New York from Col. Jonathan E. Adams.

The 109th Airlift Wing recently assumed airlift responsibility for the National Science Foundation's US Antarctic Program and has become the only flying organization to provide support and access to scientific researchers in both polar regions.

Pritchard, who performed his first ski landing in 1969, and his predecessor Adams, was joined at the ceremony by senior military officials from throughout New York and representatives of the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC.