COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss -- The 14th Communications Squadron Change of Command ceremony was held July 1, 2021, on Columbus Air Force Base, Miss. Out-going commander Maj. Brandon Palmer relinquished command to Maj. Elizabeth Rainwater.
Col. Jeffrey Welborn, 14th Mission Support Group commander, described the squadrons’ achievements under the leadership of Palmer ,
“The 14th CS drove a 2.5 million dollar base telecommunication systems upgrade, which eliminated 30,000 cyber threats to operations.”
Palmer oversaw 11 key projects totaling 1 million dollars, the highest across the entire Air Force.
“Brandon has been an out front leader who kept the Wing on pace especially during the COVID pandemic,” said Welborn. “He and his team configured over 3,000 laptops in less than 72 hours at the start of the pandemic to enable our workforce to safely work from home. He digitized approximately 8,000 pounds of records, a government mandated action that he accomplished in rapid time, meeting a targeted completion date by two years.”
Rainwater is a career cyber officer, who recently served as Director of Operations at the 509th Communications Squadron on Whiteman AFB, Missouri. She supported more than 5,000 personnel and provided trained and ready cyber professionals to support the B-2 Spirit, an A-10 Wing, an MQ-9 Reaper Squadron and a UH 60 helicopter battalion.
“It has been my honor to lead the 14th CS,” said Palmer. “Liz, I am 10 billion percent positive that you are going to take this team to the next level. I wish you all the best.”
The mission of the 14th Communications Squadron is to provide the highest quality communications and information tools to produce pilots, advance Airmen, and feed the flight .
“14th Comm Squadron, I look forward to being your commander,” said Rainwater. “I look forward to navigating through these next two years with you and serving for you.”