USTRANSCOM welcomes new command senior enlisted leader

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. — Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Brian P. Kruzelnick assumed command senior enlisted leader responsibilities for U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) in a ceremony today.

Kruzelnick succeeds Navy Fleet Master Chief Donald Myrick, who retires July 7 after 37 years of dedicated military service.

As the command senior enlisted leader, Kruzelnick serves as the principal advisor to the USTRANSCOM commander, Air Force Gen. Jaqueline Van Ovost, and ensures the strategic focus and synchronized efforts of more than 122,000 military and civilian warfighters.

Van Ovost presided over the ceremony and expressed that while the responsibilities Kruzelnick is assuming mirror other commands, USTRANSCOM’s global mission requires unique leadership.

“The gravity of USTRANSCOM’s and the CSEL’s role in supporting the National Defense Strategy is increasing, [and] we will need an equally strong and talented CSEL to help us deliver into the future and prepare us to meet these challenges,” Van Ovost said.

“I trust in Chief Kruzelnick — I know he will rise to the challenge as the eighth CSEL for USTRANSCOM,” she continued. “He has proven his commitment to the team over the past three decades. Because his purpose, his why, is rooted in his love for his family and for his country.”

Prior to assuming his new role, Kruzelnick served as the command chief master sergeant at Air Mobility Command, the air component under USTRANSCOM that provides unrivaled airlift, refuel and transport capabilities.

A recording of the ceremony is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfE_XPjCe1Y.

About USTRANSCOM

U.S. Transportation Command is a warfighting combatant command that projects and sustains military power at a time and place of the nation’s choosing. Powered by dedicated men and women, USTRANSCOM underwrites the lethality of the joint force, advances American interests around the globe, and provides our nation’s leaders with strategic flexibility to select from multiple options, while creating multiple dilemmas for our adversaries.