[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 6460]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


                  HONORING COLONEL DOUGLAS J. SCHWARTZ

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TODD ROKITA

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 17, 2016

  Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a great Hoosier and a 
highly decorated American Airman.
  Colonel Douglas J. Schwartz of the United States Air Force, retired 
on May 14, 2016 from his post as Commander of the 434th Air Refueling 
Wing based at Grissom Air Reserve Base in Miami County, Indiana. The 
434th Air Refueling Wing is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in 
the Air Force Reserve Command.
  Colonel Schwartz received his commission through Officer Training 
School in 1981 as a graduate from Purdue University, earning a Bachelor 
of Science degree in management. He began pilot training at Williams 
Air Force Base in Arizona, and was assigned to the 325th Bomb Squadron 
at Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington state. He transferred to the 
Air Force Reserve in 1992, where he flew KC-135R Stratotankers with the 
72nd Air Refueling Squadron at Grissom Air Reserve Base. Prior to 
taking command at Grissom, Colonel Schwartz served as commander of the 
927th Air Refueling Wing based at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.
  Colonel Schwartz has numerous command and leadership assignments at 
the squadron, wing and numbered air force level including assistant 
chief pilot, chief of standardization and evaluation, operations 
officer, flight commander, detachment commander, group commander, vice 
commander, director of staff and wing commander. He is a command pilot 
with more than 4,200 flying hours and has deployed in support of 
Operations Joint Endeavor, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, amongst 
others.
  I sincerely thank Colonel Schwartz for his amazing leadership at 
Grissom over the last two years and wish him many clear skies ahead.




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