Team Kadena bids farewell to Col. Richard C. Tanner
Brig. Gen. Case Cunningham, 18th Wing commander,left, presents the Legion of Merit to Col. Richard C. Tanner, 18th Wing vice commander, during a farewell ceremony at Kadena Air Base, Japan, May 29, 2019. While stationed at Kadena, Tanner provided the commander of U.S. Pacific Command trained and equipped tactical air superiority forces, combat search and rescue forces, command and control platforms, aeromedical evacuation capability, and global mobility resources for contingency operations. Tanner received his commission from the United States Air Force Academy in 1998, and after Undergraduate Pilot Training, he qualified in the C-17A Globemaster. He has served in various operational positions, including Special Operations Flight Commander and Squadron Director of Operations, and has commanded operational and combat missions worldwide in support of Operations Northern Watch, Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn. He served as the Commander of the 305th Operations Support Squadron at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, where he led more than 385 Airmen, Sailors and Soldiers in the Air Force’s only tri-service Operations Support Squadron. In 2006, he was selected as an Olmsted Scholar to Osaka University, Japan, and has served in staff capacities as the Japan Country Director on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Chief of Officer Development at HQ Air Mobility Command. Tanner leaves Kadena to become the installation commander of McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Benjamin Raughton)