With the departure of both Col McCarthy and Lt Col Hermes, we are excited and humbled to welcome our newest cadre: Colonel George Granholm as the Commander and Academic Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Rose Tseng as the Recruiting Flight Commander and Education Officer, and Major Mitchell Moen as the Operations Officer. All of the cadets are eager to learn from the unique experiences each officer brings to the table. The cadre have already demonstrated their flexibility and creativity by making plans to continue ROTC training during the COVID-19 pandemic. Det 009 is excited to see how the new cadre will transform and improve our wing as we work through these unprecedented times.
Colonel Granholm has a decorated military career with a breadth of experience. After graduating from the Air Force Academy with a bachelor’s in Astronautics and earning a master’s from MIT, he went on to accumulate over 2,700 flight hours in combat and combat support missions across a variety of airframes. Col Granholm also attained fluency in German as an Olmsted Scholar while he completed a master’s degree in Germany, and later served on the Joint Staff as the Executive Officer to the U.S. Military Representative, NATO Military Committee, Belgium. Col Granholm’s preceding assignment was at Ramstein AB, Germany, where he served as the 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing Vice Commander.
Lieutenant Colonel Tseng is a weather officer and atmospheric science researcher from the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. While at Det 009 she serves as the Recruiting Flight Commander and Education Officer and will continue to serve as an Adjunct Professor of Atmospheric Science. After earning her commission through ROTC at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), she went on to earn two masters from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Ph.D. from UCLA in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.
Major Moen has combined academic pursuit, cross-cultural competence, and aviation skill throughout his military career. Maj Moen recently graduated from Columbia University with a master’s degree in Strategic Communication, which developed his ability to interface with partner nations as a United Nations Staff Officer in South Sudan. He is currently pursuing a master of studies degree in Social Innovation at the Judge Business School at Cambridge University. Furthermore, Maj Moen has accumulated over 1,000 C-130 flight hours, including 200 combat hours. Before coming to Det 009, he was the 55th Electronic Combat Group Commander’s Executive Officer at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona.
We are ecstatic to have Col Granholm, Lt Col Tseng, and Maj Moen join us at Yale University and Det 009. Along with our NCOs, (M)Sgt Hunt and TSgt Lozano, the newest cadre will lead the detachment through a novel time in history. On behalf of the cadet wing, welcome to Det 009!