The 162nd Wing at the Morris Air National Guard base in Tucson has named a new commander to carry on its mission to train F-16 fighter pilots for U.S. and allied air forces.
Col. Brant Putnam, the 162nd Wingβs deputy commander since May 2022, took command during a ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 10, from Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Butler, who retired after more than 35 years of service, including more than 27 years in Tucson.
Putnam, a command pilot with more than 4,000 flight hours in various versions of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, enlisted at what was then the 162nd Fighter Wing in 1990.
He attended officer training school at McGhee-Tyson Air National Guard Base in Tennessee and undergraduate pilot training at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas.
Following F-16 training at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix in 1995, he was assigned to the New York Air National Guard in Syracuse, New York, where he deployed in support of Operation Northern Watch in Iraq.
Putnam returned to the 162nd in October 1996 and held various command posts including head of the Operation Snowbird training program. He became commander of the 162nd Operations Group in 2020, when he was promoted to colonel.
βLeadership and work ethic, leadership at every level paired with an absolutely unrivaled work ethic, these two things are the foundation of our culture,β Putman said in prepared remarks.
As commander, Putnam is responsible for more than 1,800 service members under the 162nd Wing, the Air Guardβs largest F-16 and remote-piloted aircraft wing, including more than 75 F-16 fighters and a squadron of MQ-9 Reaper combat drones operated at Libby Army Airfield in Sierra Vista.
Arizona Air National Guard Maj. Gen. Troy Daniels, who presided over the change-of-command ceremony on Sunday, cited the 162nd Wingβs legacy over six decades of training fighter pilots, including training U.S. and foreign pilots on the F-16 since 1985.
βThe wing has an incredible history going back over six decades with incredible achievements,β Daniels said. βA long line of fantastic leaders, and of course a team behind them that makes everything happen, contributes to mission success.β
Butler graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1988, and after flying F-16s with the 526th Fighter Squadron in Germany, he served as an instructor pilot at Luke, at the 162nd in Tucson and in the Netherlands.
He returned to Tucson as a flight examiner with the 162nd in 2002 and rose through various command positions before he was named vice commander of the wing in 2017 and commander in April 2020.
Butler, who was promoted to brigadier general in 2020, plans to continue to support the wingβs mission in a civilian role as an F-16 flight-simulator instructor.
International F-16 training hosted by the 162nd Wing at the Tucson base has included the Netherlands Air Force, which ended a 32-year training mission in Tucson in July 2022, and the Iraqi Air Force.
In September 2022, the 21st Fighter Squadron, which trains F-16 pilots and maintainers from the Taiwanese Air Force, moved from Luke to the Morris Air Guard base.
More recently, the Pentagon announced in late August that Ukrainian pilots will soon train on the F-16 at the Tucson base.
The 162nd Fighter Wing was renamed the 162nd Wing in 2014 to reflect its multiple missions after gaining the combat drone unit, the 214th Attack Squadron.
The Morris base also hosts the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center.
A change-of-command ceremony was held Sept. 10, in which Col. Brant Putnam took command from Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Butler, who retired after more than 35 years of service.
