Shaw Air Force Base site of command change for 9th Air Force

With the passing of the guidon, Maj. Gen. Mark D. Kelly took command of Ninth Air Force Headquarters from Maj. Gen. H. D. Polumbo, far right, during a ceremony at Shaw Air Force Base Friday. Gen. Herbert J. "Hawk" Carlisle, left, commander of Air Combat Command officiated the ceremony. Part of the ceremony is removing the name of the previous commander and replacing it with the new one, pictured below. Tim Dominick tdominick@thestate.com

Maj. Gen. Mark Kelly took command of the 9th Air Force in a Friday ceremony at Shaw Air Force Base. Kelly comes to Shaw after being deployed for a year in Afghanistan. He led the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing at Bagram Airfield, the air expeditionary group at Kandahar Airfield, and detachments throughout Afghanistan. The 9th Air Force is responsible for the service’s fighting units along the East Coast. It has more than 400 aircraft and is composed of 29,000 active duty servicemen and women and civilian workers. Kelly is also in charge of 16 Air Reserve units. He takes over from Maj. Gen. H.D. Polumbo.

The Associated Press

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Photos: Shaw Air Force Base command change

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