Elected officials got assurances Friday that an option under consideration to move all or part of the 139th Airlift Wing from St. Joseph to Knob Knoster near Whiteman Air Force Base was “dead,” reports the News-Press. We reported Monday that Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and local officials had raised cautionary flags last week over the issue. According to the newspaper, Brig. Gen. Craig McCord, head of the Missouri Air National Guard, told local officials that the restructuring of the Air Guard’s 131st at Whiteman from a fighter to a bomb wing prompted the state Guard to “sort through the best way to manage its assets.” But, he added that the proposed reshuffle for the 139th AW was “just an option to consider and now it’s a dead issue.”
Air Force Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich assumed command of U.S. European Command on July 1, taking over the key assignment as the U.S. and its allies contend with a resurgent Russia and a grinding war in Ukraine.
