Sioux City native Colonel Mark Muckey named new 185th ARW Commander

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Vincent De Groot
  • 185th Air Refueling Wing

Iowa National Guard Joint Forces Headquarters announced this week that Sioux City, Iowa native Colonel Mark Muckey has been selected as the next Wing Commander of the 185th Air Refueling Wing in Sioux City, Iowa. 

Muckey grew up in Morningside where he was a student at Morningside Christian but eventually graduated from East High School in Sioux City, Iowa in 1984. He attended Iowa State University and received his undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University.

Muckey attended undergraduate pilot training at Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Okla. He is a command pilot with more than 4,000 flying hours primarily in the U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules and KC-135 Stato-Tanker.  He has deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Colonel Muckey is currently the Air National Guard Advisor to the Air Mobility Command Inspector General stationed at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.  Colonel Muckey will overlap command duties in Sioux City with the current 185th ARW Commander Colonel Larry Christensen for a few months beginning in January, 2019. A formal change of command ceremony will be planned for a later date.

According to Iowa Air National Guard Brigadier General Shawn Ford Muckey has a broad background of leadership and experiences that will help the 185th meet its future mission requirements. 

“We look forward to the future contributions that Colonel Muckey will make to this great organization,” said, Brigadier General Shawn Ford.

Current 185th ARW commander, Colonel Larry Christen has been selected as the Chief of Staff for the Iowa Air National Guard at Camp Dodge in Des Moines, Iowa. Christensen will be promoted to Brigadier General and assume his new position following a formal handoff of the Wing leadership to incoming commander Colonel Mark Muckey.

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