U.S. Air Force General Jacqueline D. Van Ovost assumed command of the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) during a ceremony at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., on October 15. She is the second woman to lead a combatant command, and the first female military officer to hold the Transportation Command.
The Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III presided over the ceremony as Army General Stephen Lyons turned over command of the joint service worldwide organization to Air Force General Jacqueline Van Ovost.
Secretary Austin highlighted that General Jacqueline Van Ovost is “the perfect person to follow Lyons and to continue the development of the command”.
The secretary said, “She’s a legend of a leader, and the American military is lucky to have her on the job… I know that she’ll continue to push the envelope and exceed all expectations, because that’s what she’s always done.”
Secretary Austin also noted that General Van Ovost “had a pilot’s license before she could legally drive a car… [and] After attending the Air Force Academy, she became a test pilot and, in her career, flew more than 30 different aircraft”.
During the ceremony, Secretary Austin also highlighted the importance of USTRANSCOM by stating that, “On any given day, some 115 Transcom railcars are moving DOD equipment, 33 ships are getting underway and 1,500 trucks are delivering cargo. And about every two minutes, a Transcom plane is taking off or landing somewhere around the world — hauling supplies, refueling aircraft or moving patients”.
Secretary Austin also emphasized that “this past year was anything but ordinary” for the Transcom, and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the command executed “a complex retrograde movement of U.S. forces from Somalia”, and “the largest noncombatant evacuation airlift in American history in Afghanistan”.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Army General Mark A. Milley also remarked on the “professionalism and capabilities inherent in the command”.
“Transportation Command is the key to American military successes going back to World War II… the Red Ball Express that kept Allied forces supplied over the beaches from Normandy in 1944. That same spirit permeates the U.S. Transportation Command,” General Milley said.
USTRANSCOM is one of eleven unified combatant commands of the Department of Defense. Scott Air Force Base in Illinois is the headquarters of the U.S. Transportation Command.
The command is composed of three service component commands, including the Air Mobility Command of Air Force, Military Sealift Command of the Navy, and Surface Deployment and Distribution Command of the U.S. Army. The command coordinates transportation across all the services and missions across the globe using both military and commercial transportation resources.
