Lt. Col. Brett Bosselmann takes command of 225th Air Defense Squadron

  • Published
  • By Capt. Kimberly Burke
  • Western Air Defense Sector

Members of the 225th Air Defense Squadron (ADS) welcomed their new commander during a change of command ceremony Jan. 29 at the Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) at McChord Field. 

Lt. Col. Brett Bosselmann took command of the 225th ADS from Col. Paige Abbott, who assumed command of the 225th Support Squadron. Col. William Krueger, 225th Air Defense Group commander, officiated over the ceremony and emphasized that Bosselmann “is absolutely the right choice to take charge of the critical Air Defense operations force.”

In his first address as the new commander, Bosselmann outlined the five ingredients that he feels makes the 225th Air Defense Squadron excel. 

“We have a mission that our people believe in, and we are resourced to train and equip our people to do that mission,” said Bosselmann. “We recruit innovative and motivated people, we foster an environment that respects and values people’s good ideas and we invest time in mentoring and developing our people so they will one day be the leaders standing up here talking about this building and this mission and how it has been on watch continuously since 1958.”

“We have a very important mission, guarding America’s skies, 24 hours a day, seven days a week continuously for nearly 60 years with our Canadian partners,” said Bosselmann. “In order to maintain national air sovereignty, we are on continuous watch to detect, identify, track and prosecute airborne threats. The stakes are high when defending the airspace over our country.”

The 225th Air Defense Squadron is a subordinate unit of the 225th Air Defense Group. The 225th ADS conducts the mission of the Western Air Defense Sector. WADS is headquartered on Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state and is staffed primarily by full-time Washington Air National Guardsmen and a Canadian Forces detachment. The unit supports NORAD's integrated warning and attack assessment missions and the U.S. Northern Command's homeland defense mission. WADS is responsible for air sovereignty and counter-air operations over the western United States and directs a variety of assets to defend 2.2 million square miles of land and sea.

Bosselmann is specifically responsible for maintaining North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) air sovereignty and aerospace control over 73 percent of the western United States, as well as providing leadership and management of 215 Air National Guard, Canadian Air Force, contractors and civilian personnel. He oversees the conduct and mission execution for command and control operations of seven NORAD aerospace control alert detachments, 14 alert aircraft, refueling tankers, airborne early warning aircraft and Army air and missile defense assets in the National Capital Region. He is an active operational liaison for multiple Department of Defense, higher headquarters agencies and Department of Homeland Security partners, including the CBP Air Marine Operations Center in Riverside, California.

Bosselmann is a graduate of the Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) from the University of South Florida, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Geology in 1995. After eight years on active duty service in the Air Force, he joined the Washington Air National Guard in 2003.

Bosselmann is a Master Air Battle Manager with more than 1,600 hours in the E-3B/C. He has deployed/participated in Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Caribbean Shield, Operation Anaconda, Operation Mountain Lion and Combined Defense of the Arabian Gulf. Since 2003, Bosselmann has been leading personnel in the homeland defense Operation Noble Eagle mission. Prior to assuming his current position, he served as 225th Air Defense Squadron assistant director of operations for the Western Air Defense Sector.