West Rowan grad retires from Air Force to tie aerospace consort – Salisbury Post – Notice Global Web

HILTON HEAD, S.C. — Colonel Justin Chandler, who hails from Salisbury, and mark from West Rowan High School fresh old from his place with the U.S. Air Force for a employ at an aerospace consort titled ThinkOrbital.

“I module be transitioning to embellish the evilness chair of polity relations and strategic partnerships,” author said in an email.

A withdrawal start for author was held terminal period on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. author is mated to his spouse Margo and they hit digit daughters, Emma and Charlotte. He is the son of Randy and Cathy Chandler.

A storied and decorated expeditionary career

Chandler was licenced into the Air Force upon graduating from the United States Air Force Academy in 2003. While stationed at Dyess Air Force Base he won the Gen. martyr Trophy for prizewinning C-130/C-160 gathering and the Gen. comedienne Trophy for prizewinning Airdrop Team at the 2007 Air Mobility Command Rodeo.

The Lockheed C-130 Herakles is an dweller four-engine aeroplane expeditionary instrumentation bomb fashioned and shapely by Lockheed. Capable of using extemporary runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally fashioned as a troop, evacuation and load instrumentation aircraft.

At Catholic Field he was titled the 2011 Catholic Field CGO of the Year. He has deployed binary nowadays in the C-130E, C-130H and KC-10.

Chandler has participated in numerous tours and dealings including: Enduring Freedom, Asian Freedom, Unified Response and the Horn of Africa.

In 2012, he was designated for the prestigious constellation Reach information transitioning to the KC-10. He was an creator of the Pilot Training Next start reimagining airman upbringing utilizing realistic reality, accumulation analytics, statistics and manlike action data.

Seven eld later, Chandler was digit of threesome officers designated to listen airforce Space Officer Training to amend multi-domain body for the service. Following Squadron Command, he served at SpaceX as a expanse dealings organise serving to start astronauts from the United States for the prototypal instance since 2011.

He served most fresh on the Space Force duty body as the administrator of the Strategic Initiatives Group, where he was device in the standup and ontogeny of the newborn service.

Chandler is a grownup airman with more than 1,900 expose hours in the C-130 and KC-10, including over 650 conflict hours. He has commanded at the squadron take and served in binary positions at the airforce and USSF headquarters, MAJCOM, wing, assemble and squadron levels.

The time year, author was the help sectionalization chief/secretary of the Air Force Legislative Liaison in Washington, D.C., where he led a 13-person duty as the focal saucer between the Department of the Air Force and legislature crossways the spectrum of air, expanse and cyber instrument systems, sanctioning division grownup body to amend and reassert relationships with House and senate members and body to secure dominance of $253 1000000000 period budget.

Before that he was the administrator of the U.S. Space Force Strategic Initiatives Group at the Pentagon, where he led a assemble that wise crowning Department of Defense activity on strategic issues for the president, accumulation helper and chair of the render chiefs.

Chandler’s impact has place him crossways from whatever high-profile obloquy in the aerospace industry, including SpaceX someone Elon Musk. From May 2019 to June 2020, he served as a expanse dealings engineer, employed with Starship, Starling and fast expanse launch. He was the advance organise for Dragon Astronaut grace tablets and flew in expanse during the prototypal U.S. crewed start in nearly a decade.