An exciting new era has dawned at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station, a major powerhouse of the Mahoning Valley economy and the nation’s defense. Last Sunday morning at 9:10, Col. Christopher E. Sedlacek took the reins of the sprawling air base as commander of the mighty 910th Airlift Wing.

Sedlacek takes charge at an exciting period of fleet modernization and other upgrades at the U.S. Defense Department installation in Vienna. He will be challenged to oversee that growth while continuing the base’s reputation for stellar service to our nation and our community.

Judging by his record and his goals for the 60-building complex, Sedlacek appears more than up for that challenge.

The resume of the U.S. Air Force Academy graduate bursts wide open with extensive and impressive military experience. Before his installation ceremony last weekend at the base, he served three years as commander of the 302nd Airlift Wing at the Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado. Earlier Sedlacek spent several years as commander of the 934th Airlift Wing at the Minneapolis Air Reserve Station.

While on active duty, he served in Europe and later as a formal school instructor in the C-130 Aircraft. Collectively, he has more than 3,500 flying hours and 370 hours of combat flight time under his belt.

That experience and expertise over the C-130 no doubt will serve him well as he welcomes the full complement of eight shiny new state-of-the-art C-130J Super Hercules aircraft commissioned to YARS that will replace the base’s older C-130H models. The first two of those sleek aircraft have arrived with the remainder landing here in stages through mid-2026.

The superiority of the new model C-130s, which can fly at 22,000 feet at 417 mph, bodes well for a long shelf life for them at the base and for the base itself. YARS should risk no mention on any base-closing lists anytime soon.

According to the Air Force, the J model reduces manpower requirements, lowers operating and support costs and provides life-cycle cost savings over earlier models. Those traits should provide more efficiency for the airlift wing’s mission in supply transport and in its critical humanitarian role in the American military as the only large-area, fixed-wing aerial spray missions to eliminate disease-carrying insects and pests throughout the world.

While overseeing the major transition in the 910th’s aircraft, Sedlacek also must work to continue and enhance strong bonds with partners in the community as well as those in state and federal governments, all of which have contributed greatly to the base’s endurance and growth,

“Before even coming to Ohio, I was made well aware of the great community partnerships the Youngstown Air Reserve (Station) and the 910th Airlift Wing had developed in the past,” he told his installation ceremony audience last weekend.

Over the past nine years, such strong partnerships among leaders of the base, support groups, as well as local, state and federal government officials, won the base the new fleet of sophisticated aircraft and a renewed lease on life. They also played critical roles in the base’s most recent addition, a new main gate. That $11 million project offers technology that enhances protection and anti-terrorism capabilities for the wing.

Other projects will need the new commander’s watchful eye as well. They include a $25 million endeavor to construct a new fire station at the base and an $8 million resurfacing of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport’s 9,000-foot taxiway that leads to the facility’s main runway.

As for that latter project, what’s good for the air base also must be good for the adjacent regional airport. It is our hope that successful growth at the air base can help entice growth and eventual restoration of regular commercial service at the airport.

With some 2,000 employees and an economic impact on the Valley of $150 million, nothing should be left to chance to guarantee YARS continues to maintain a superior rating for quality, efficiency and productivity in the eyes of the Defense Department and of our community.

We wish Sedlacek nothing but the best in achieving those ends.

A few years back, Retired Air Force Col. Joseph Zeiss Jr., Gov. Mike DeWine’s senior adviser for aerospace and defense, visited the base and called it a “gem” for the Mahoning Valley and for Ohio’s lineup of military facilities.

With the nearly $1 billion investment in the state-of-the art aircraft and with many additional improvements on the drawing board at YARS, we’re confident that this community and national gem will shine even more brightly for many years and decades to come.