LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
The 1st Fighter Wing bid farewell to Col. Matthew H. Molloy as he relinquished command to Col. Kevin J. Robbins during a change-of-command ceremony May 23.
Maj. Gen. Stephen L. Hoog, 9th Air Force commander, officiated the ceremony.
Colonel Molloy served two years as the commander of the 1 FW and has been reassigned as commander of the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base, Japan.
During his closing statement Colonel Molloy turned to Colonel Robbins and said, "You are looking at the best of what the Air Force has and those are the sons and daughters of America. This isn't a goodbye, but until I see you again."
Colonel Robbins is a 1986 graduate of The Master's College of Santa Clarita, Calif., where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Business Management and received his commission in the Air Force through the Officer Training School at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
He comes to the wing from a year-long deployment in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was the chief of staff for the Force Reintegration Cell. Prior to the deployment, he was the vice wing commander for the 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman AFB, N.M.
"We don't get our identity by the wing patch we wear, we get our identity by our production... and what we provide to combatant commanders," he said. "We will be ready and heaven help our enemies when the 1st and finest are called to battle."
Colonel Robbins is a command pilot with more than 3,600 hours in the F-22, F-15 A/B/C/D, and F-16 C/D aircrafts.