TAMPA, Fla. — Friday morning marked a new chapter at MacDill Air Force Base as Col. Adam Bingham was welcomed in as the new wing and installation commander.
Col. Benjamin Jonsson handed over command of the 6th Air Refueling Wing to Col. Adam Bingham during a wing change of command ceremony.
“I just want our military families to know that us as leaders, we really care about them, that we care about their success,” said Col. Bingham.
As Commander, MacDill AFB said Bingham is responsible for the wing’s worldwide combat air refueling mission and provides installation support to Headquarters US Central Command, Headquarters US Special Operations Command, and 31 other joint mission partners.
Col. Bingham said he plans to build on what Col. Jonsson left him with, what he called a fantastic wing.
“Champa Bay, I love the fact that the city of Tampa has embraced that for the winners that they always are,” said Bingham. “This is going to be championship peninsula for all the military families that serve here on MacDill Air Force Base.”
Before taking on his new role, MacDill said Bingham served as the Operations Group Commander for the largest pilot training base in the world.
On Friday, Bingham weighed in on issues facing those who may serve on base like the escalating housing crisis.
“In the next week or so, I’ll meet with my team, and we’ll formulate a plan of what we plan on doing to help solve some of those issues, but I think that there’s nothing that we can’t solve together with the Tampa community,” said Bingham.
ABC Action News also asked Col. Bingham about mental health initiatives for those in the military.
“We take mental health very serious,” said Bingham. “It’s obviously a very serious thing here in the United States, not just for our US military, and we’re committed to helping military families get the help they need so that we can produce and be the best airmen, sailor, marines, and guardians that we can be for the United States of America.”
