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3rd CCG welcomes new commander

  • Published
  • By John Stuart
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  It was a beautiful Oklahoma day June 7, as Col. David Babyak assumed command of the 3rd Combat Communi-cations Group.

In front of a standing room only crowd in Bldg. 230, Col. Theresa Giorlando, 689th Combat Communi-cations Wing commander, presided over the change of command.

Colonel Babyak succeeded Col. Thomas Byrge, who is transferring to Fort Bragg, N.C., as the director of communications for Joint Special Operations Command.

"The 3rd Herd has had a phenomenal run under Colonel Byrge's command and it's been outstanding what the 3rd Herd has been able to accomplish and what he's done for the Airmen here," Colonel Giorlando said, minutes before she pinned a Legion of Merit on Colonel Byrge for his outstanding service.

Colonel Babyak joined the Air Force in 1988 and since July 2009 has been the deputy director of communications for Headquarters, Air Education and Training Command, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.

"The Air Force is going through significant changes and at the center of those changes is the communications and information career field," Colonel Babyak said. "Today our challenge is to meet the demands of a new warfighting domain, cyberspace, while dealing with an ever-changing world in which we live. I know the men and women of the 3rd Herd are already meeting these challenges and I am honored to be part of this great team, the 3rd Herd -- the oldest, the biggest, the best."

The Herd is in prime condition as Colonel Babyak assumes command. Building on the group's 2009 award as the best large communication unit in the Air Force and their recent Combat Challenge first-place award at Air Force Space Command, Colonel Babyak has a stellar group at his disposal. During Colonel Byrge's 26-month tenure, the group deployed 650 Airmen for a cumulative 60,000 deployment days in some 45 countries worldwide. Through these awards and others, Colonel Byrge leaves behind a group that is clearly the finest of its kind.

"To this day (Colonel Byrge) knows his Airmen more by their call signs than by their name and rank. He knows the spouses' names, the kids' names, and where the Airmen are from. He is an Airmen's Colonel," Colonel Giorlando said. "This is because he was out there engaging and assessing their character. And even if he saw challenges in that character, he was there to help them grow strong and accomplish more than they ever thought possible."

"When you're raised by a Chief it puts something in your head," Colonel Byrge said of his father, a retired Air Force Chief. "My values are the way they are because that's the way I was raised."

"When I came to Tinker I asked (my Airmen) to attack everything with a positive attitude and they did that. I never heard a single negative word about anything. There were no complaints, they just asked, 'How high?' This is the best place you could ever be stationed, the best job you could ever have."