Colonel Brandon Kelly, the 482nd Fighter Wing, and the Homestead Air Reserve Base, Parts One and Two

Part 1 (07/12/2024) :

On June 1st, Colonel Brandon Kelly took command of the 482nd Fighter Wing and Homestead Air Reserve Base (HARB). Late last month, he sat down with the South Dade News Leader for a wide-ranging interview which covered his background, future activities, changes in missions, and organizations for the Wing and the Base.

COL Kelly grew up in Cairo Georgia in a family with a strong military heritage. He told us, “my family has been military since the Revolutionary War. I’m the first officer, which doesn’t mean much, but it’s the path I took.”

That path led from a freshman year at the University of Georgia, to the Air Force ROTC program at Brigham Young University, where he was commissioned in 1998.

“I was never encouraged or discouraged from going into the military.” He continued, “I was a young kid at an air show, and my mom tells me I said that’s what I want to do. How blessed am I to be doing what I wanted to do as a young child?”

Kelly was selected for pilot training in the A-10. The A-10 was specifically designed to provide close air support to ground forces.

“I was in training on 9/11, about a month from graduation. 8 months later, I was in Afghanistan as a Lieutenant flying A-10s. In 2003, I was on the ground in Iraq as a Joint Terminal Attack Controller with the Army’s 10th Mountain Division,” he explained.

About the A-10 and its mission, Kelly told us, “supporting the guys on the ground with the A-10 in close air support, it’s a mission. It’s a way of life. Our number one desired mission is to get the young kids with the rifles back home, that’s what the A-10 does so well.” He continued, “Here, I’ll be going to F-16 training in a few months. I can’t wait to go do that because they (F-16’s) have a close air support mission as well.”

The Air Force is changing the way Fighter Wings are deployed. In the past, squadrons, smaller units, and even individuals were pulled from multiple units and locations, and would join a Fighter Wing in the location of the mission.

In the future, designated Deployable Wings will train on a day-to-day basis with the units and people that they will deploy with. Other Wings will be designated and organized for Base support and other missions.

During the 482nd Fighter Wing Change of Command, Major General Regina Sabric, Commander of 10th Air Force, the 482nd Higher Headquarters, told the audience that the 482nd would be the first Combat Deployable Fighter Wing in the Air Force Reserve and that it would deploy to support a Combatant Commander during COL Kelly’s tenure.

We asked COL Kelly how this transition would happen. He answered, “as we shift here, locally, to a Deployable Combat Wing, and then an Air Base Wing with completely separate and severed command structures, eventually, the Air Base Wing will keep the Base running as the Combat Wing gets out of town.” He continued, “Starting soon, we’ll be moving some people around. We’re going to reorganize into an Air Staff, Combat Support Teams, Combat Service Support Teams at top and bottom. In the middle will be a Mission Generation of Force Element, think operations, maintenance, and supply. We can bring our own, or we’ll be trained to accept and integrate others from other units to make a whole task force.”

The Colonel told us that the Wing will start small, and build and train over the next few years, with the goal of a deployment in 2026. The end result will be that “ultimately, when we are tasked, this entire Compat Wing of 1,500 or so people will pick up and go as one unit. We will have trained together, and we will know each other. We’re not meeting for the first time when we get to where we’re going.”

While many aspects of the deployment are subject to change, the current plan is for a 6-month deployment towards the end of 2026, with some personnel rotating at the 90-day mark. In next week’s edition, in part 2 of this article, we’ll hear about the Wings Over Homestead Airshow, the potential of F-35s coming to HARB, training challenges, and community and local government support for HARB.

Part 2 (07/19/2024):

This article follows the previously published interview with the new Commander of the 482nd Fighter Wing and Homestead Air Reserve Base.

The Wings Over Homestead Airshow is certainly one of the most popular events in South Florida. We asked COL Kelly about the next show. He said, “We’re good to go, April 5th and 6th, if I’ve got my dates right, the first weekend in April. For me, it’s an absolute must. From my experience as a young kid, we talk recruiting, but for me, we owe it to the community. To open up our gates, to show them the base, and show them what their support means. My staff is about 80% there on the demonstrations and static displays.” He concluded, “See you in April. Tell your friends.”

The F-16s that are flown by the 482nd are in most cases older than the pilots that fly them. The Air Force is gradually replacing them with F-35 Lightning, a 5th generation fighter. The News Leader has reported in the past on the base’s decision-making process for the Air Force Reserve. Though HARB and the 482nd were not selected to be the first reserve unit to receive the F-35, it was clear that there was a strong case for HARB being the next in line. We asked COL Kelly where things stood.

He replied, “The Air Force has the decision, and nothing is ever decided until it is. What I can tell you is Homestead is funded through 2030. Not a factor. We are focused on our 4th generation aircraft and as they age, they take a little duct tape and the hard work of our committed technicians and crew chef, and the supply system are making it happen. We’ll deploy with these aircraft.” He continued, “We are fighting hard. Air Force Reserve component at Air Combat Command and Air Force Reserve Command and their staff at the Pentagon are showing and showcasing that Homestead is ready. There would be some infrastructure changes to accept the 5th generation aircraft, but the base, the community, our base partners, our airspace with the Florida Range, and the space we have are all ready.”

The 482nd Fighter Wing is composed of Air Force Civilians, Active Duty Airmen, Dual Status Technicians, Active Guard and Reserve Members, and traditional Reservist. We asked Kelly about the challenges both for the unit and the individuals. He replied, “I’ve been all of those things other than the traditional Reservist. I joined 25 years ago, 10 years active, 13 years as a dual status technician, a couple of years AGR, and now back to dual status. I'll tell you, our traditional Reservists, I am so in awe of them and how they do it. So how do you balance one weekend a month and two weeks to do all the training and requirements that full-timers have? They have to be experts here as they gain expertise in their civilian job and how to balance it all.” Turning to changes in training he said, “When it comes to the Combat Fighter Wing, NCO, and junior officers will be in charge of small units and they’ll go out with commander’s guidance and mission type orders, and maybe there will be communications problems. They will have to make decisions based on the commander’s intent. That’s new for many of our junior officers who don’t normally get to that point until later in their careers. During training, we’ll fail but we’ll fail forward.”

We next turned to community and local governmental support for HARB and its missions from a development and land use standpoint. On this subject, COL Kelly told us, “I’ve been here a few weeks now and I can tell you that relationships with the community do not keep me up at night. My fence line of course is a concern for me about things getting too close as communities develop. Of course, we want to support the communities as it only helps my Airmen.” He continued, “When BG Padgett, former 482nd Commander, left he told me, Oh yeah, great partners. They’ll chat, you’ll chat, and it’s good.”Concluding the interview COL Kelly told us, “HARB is here and we’re not going anywhere. My Airmen obviously love the location, 80% of them live here and the other 20% come here from all over. We’re all about making sure the community knows that. That we’re here to support them and thanks for their support. The Kelly family is definitely loving being here.”

Watch for more coverage of changes and training events at HARB, preparations for Wings Over Homestead, and other Military news in coming editions.