MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Colonel Keolani Bailey, former vice commandant for Officer Training School, took on his new role as its commandant during a change of command ceremony, April 21, 2022, on Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
Brigadier Gen. Leslie Maher, commander of the Jeanne M. Holm Center for Officer Accessions and Citizen Development, officiated the ceremony. Baily took command of OTS from Col. Christopher Bennett, who has retired.
“Colonel ‘KO’ Bailey takes over at an interesting time,” said Maher. “We are slowly returning to pre-COVID conditions, yet with the edict to accelerate change. KO has the talent to balance these two ideas well, overlaying OTS’s training regimen with an emphasis on warrior ethos and what it means to lead Airmen and Guardians to meet our nation’s challenges head on.”
As a prior enlisted U.S. Army engineer, Bailey earned his commission in 1997 through the Air Force ROTC program at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. He then served as a logistics officer in the 168th Air Refueling Wing, Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.
Bailey has served in multiple assignments as an air battle manager to include weapons section chief and flight commander, while earning qualifications as an instructor and evaluator air weapons officer, senior director, mission crew commander and most recently, the OTS vice commandant.
“I am deeply humbled by this incredible opportunity to serve and lead Team OTS. We are blessed with amazing instructors and staff, who are dedicated to building officers of high moral character, committed to our oath, values, and creed,” said Bailey. “It is a sincere privilege to train, educate, and mentor the next generation of Air Force and Space Force officers – ‘Always with Honor.’”