By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Former 139th Airlift Wing Commander, Col. John Cluck, is optimistic about the future of the base at Rosecrans Memorial Airport in St. Joseph.
Still, Cluck says he has concerns, because the military is constantly downsizing in an attempt to save money.
“We had about twice as many aircraft back in ’03 when we deployed that we have now,” Cluck tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post in a phone interview. “Things get more expensive. It gets harder to remain relevant. I know that it’s going to be a tremendous challenge until we get these new aircraft here at the 139th to make sure that we’re still in a good position. I think that we are. I’ve worked very hard to make sure that we are.”
The glaring need for the 139th remains, though. It has yet to land the new mode C-130J planes to replace the aging C-130H models it currently flies.
Cluck says improvements made to Rosecrans with state, county, and city money has improved the chances the base lands the new aircraft.
“We may not get them as quickly as we want them, but as long as we get across the finish line at the end that’ll be just fine,” Cluck says. “I know the mission we have here, not only with the flying squadron, but also the Advance Airlift Tactics Training Center is too critically important to the Air Force as a whole to let it go aside. I feel very confident we’re going to get them. I don’t know if we’ll get the next round or not, but I’m very confident we are going to win.”
Money has poured into Rosecrans, building a new main runway, a new terminal, and a new tower. It is undergoing a complete renovation even as the Air Guard constructs new buildings for the 139th on ground that didn’t flood during the devasting 1993 Missouri River flood.
Cluck handed over commanded of the base to his Deputy Commander, Col. Barrett Golden, during a Change of Command ceremony at Rosecrans Saturday afternoon.
Cluck says the primary challenge the Air Guard faces is recruitment.
“Our numbers are coming up. It doesn’t take very long to go down, but it takes a long way to climb back up out of that hole,” Cluck says. “We’ve made some really, really good strides coming up. We’ve increased our percentage overall manning by about 5 or 6%, which is huge. And I think we’ll come back out of that.”
Cluck feels optimistic about the future of the Air Guard base in St. Joseph.
“I’m very optimistic about it,” Cluck says. “I’ll tell you, that was the one thing I said during my tenure as the wing commander is I want to make sure that not only is the wing is moving, but it’s also there for generations to come.”
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