JACKSON, Miss – Lt. Col. Andrew S. Rendon assumed command of the 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment from Lt. Col. James B. Haynie during a ceremony at Hawkins Field, August 13, 2016.
“I’m very fortunate. The 1-185th battalion is a fine organization. I might say it’s the best organization in the MSARNG. Grateful as a commission officer we strive to achieve this. This is pretty much a career goal of ours to be a battalion commander. So I’m very grateful” said Rendon.
“I’m going to continue to sustain the things that we’re doing in this unit. Focusing on readiness, focusing on getting Soldiers into the right schools. Focus on some of those metrics that are important, like the individual metrics and also the collective training. We’ll focus on that. We do have a deployment coming up next year, so we are going to start looking at our missions task for that deployment. We want to continue to work towards making sure we got a diverse organization, and that we are bringing in different Soldiers throughout the MSARNG,” he said.
Serving 20 years in the military, with 18 years in aviation, Haynie hands off his command to someone he sees as a promising and confident successor.
“I’ve known Col. Rendon for several years, if anyone was going to take my position. I’m glad it’s him. He’s going to take those troops forward to Kosovo, and has a lot of experience, and a lot more knowledge that he will bring to the unit, and he’ll just keep getting better” said Haynie.
But he will miss the bonds built while he was in command.
“The nice thing at a battalion level is that, it is probably the last level where you actually feel the entire family group. As you get to the brigade and higher organizations, it seems to be more localized. At the battalion, really what you enjoy is camaraderie that you have with the officers and the young officers that you’re able to mentor, as well as just the mission. You’re probably just one of the last units at that level where you’re actually deeply involved into the mission planning and mission execution” said Haynie.
Rendon is sure that Haynie has molded that unit and he is proud to take control after him.
“Col. Haynie has done an amazing job with Sgt. Maj. Teddy James. They’ve worked really hard to bring up the moral and bring this unit to a point, where we are going to Kosovo next year, but I feel like we are ready to go right now based on all their hard work and all their accomplishments. So kudos to Col. Haynie, he’s done a great job,” he said enthusiastically.
Date Taken: | 08.13.2016 |
Date Posted: | 08.16.2016 11:14 |
Story ID: | 207072 |
Location: | JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI, US |
Hometown: | JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI, US |
Web Views: | 173 |
Downloads: | 1 |
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