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2nd Air Force change of command Nov. 9

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Lee Smith
  • 81st Training Wing Public Affairs
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AETCNS) --  Maj. Gen. Michael Gould takes command of 2nd Air Force, at 10 a.m. Nov. 9 on the Keesler parade field.

He succeeds Maj. Gen. Loyd Utterback, commander of the numbered Air Force for technical training in Air Education and Training Command since July 2004. General Utterback's new assignment is deputy commander of Pacific Air Forces, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

General Gould comes to 2nd Air Force headquarters at Keesler from Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England, where he commanded the 3rd Air Force.

The new leader for 2nd Air Force earned his commission and a bachelor's degree in behavioral science from the Air Force Academy in 1976. Since then, he's commanded an operations group, an air refueling wing, an air mobility wing and the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center.

General Gould's operational and staff assignments include three tours at Headquarters U.S. Air Force, along with duties as an Air Force aide to former President George Bush and as a military assistant to former Secretary of the Air Force Dr. Sheila Widnall.

He's also served as the director of mobility forces for Operation Joint Endeavor and more recently, as U.S. European Command's Air Expeditionary Task Force commander for the deployment of African Union troops into the Darfur region of the Sudan and as director of operational plans and joint matters, deputy chief of staff for air and space operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force.