Col. Dave Mounkes named next 123rd Airlift Wing commander

  • Published
  • By 123rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
FRANKFORT, Ky. --  Col. David J. Mounkes has been selected as the next Commander of the 123rd Airlift Wing effective April 16, Kentucky's adjutant general, Brig. Gen. Stephen R. Hogan announced.

Mounkes currently serves as commander of the 123rd Contingency Response Group, a post he has held since July 2014. His deployed operational command experience includes commander, 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, from July to September 2007; commander, Contingency Response Element, Dominican Republic, in support of Haiti earthquake relief efforts during Operation Unified Response from January to March 2010; and commander, Joint Task Force-Port Opening Senegal/123rd Contingency Response Group for Operation United Assistance in Dakar, Senegal, supporting international efforts to fight an outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease from September to November 2014.

Mounkes is a C-130 master navigator who joined the Kentucky Air National Guard in 1997 following active-duty service as an instructor/evaluator navigator with the 50th Tactical Airlift Squadron and the 62nd Airlift Squadron at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas.

Prior to his current assignment with the Kentucky Air National Guard, Mounkes served as standards and evaluations navigator, 123rd Operations Group; director of operations, 165th Airlift Squadron; commander, 123rd Global Mobility Squadron; and deputy Commander, 123rd Contingency Response Group.

Colonel Mounkes is a veteran of numerous named operations, including Restore Hope, Provide Promise, Provide Relief, Joint Forge, Coronet Oak, Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, Unified Response And Unified Assistance.

He is an in-residence graduate of the U.S. Air Force Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, where he earned a master's of science in strategic studies. He also holds a master's of divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and a bachelor's of science in aeronautical engineering from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California.

"The Kentucky Air National Guard emphasizes building a great bench of leaders capable of maintaining our position as the best Airlift Wing in the nation," Hogan said. "Colonel Mounkes will continue Kentucky's national reputation of unequaled excellence and unbridled service into the future."