Whitesboro Resident Takes Command of the 224th Support Squadron

  • Published
  • By Tim Jones
  • 224th ADG
Rome, N,Y> --  Lt. Col. David Bartczak, a Whitesboro resident, formally took command of the New York Air National Guard's 224th Support Squadron last Thursday during an assumption of command ceremony at the Eastern Air Defense Sector.

The 224th Support Squadron is a subordinate unit of the 224th Air Defense Group (ADG). The 224th ADG conducts the mission of the Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS), a North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) headquarters unit located at Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome. The Support Squadron is responsible for providing services, such as information technology, physical plant maintenance and security, which are critical to the conduct of the mission.

Bartczak received command before a crowd of about 80 family, friends and fellow members of the Air National Guard. Col. John M. Balbierer, the 224th ADG Commander, served as the officiating officer for the ceremony.

A Buffalo, New York native, Bartczak graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy in 1990 with a mechanical engineering degree. A scholarship cadet in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, he was commissioned in May 1990. After completing Air Battle Manager training at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida in June 1991, he was assigned to the Southeast Air Defense Sector (SEADS) at Tyndall, where he served as mission crew commander and flight commander. In 1996, Bartczak transferred to the New York Air National Guard and was assigned to the Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) at what was then Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome.

Since arriving at the Eastern Air Defense Sector (NEADS was re-organized as EADS in 2009), Bartczak has served in nearly every major leadership post. He served as senior director and mission crew commander from March 1996 to November 2001 and as assistant flight commander from November 2001 to April 2004. From November 2001 to July 2007, Bartczak also served as joint interface control officer, where he led the design and operational fielding of the first, modern tactical data-link network to cover the continental U.S.

In July 2007, he became a flight commander and served in this capacity until May 2011, when he became Chief of Operations Control. In December 2013, Bartczak became Assistant Deputy Commander, Operations. He has served as Deputy Commander, 224th Support Squadron since October 2016.

A graduate of Air War College and Air Command and Staff College, Bartczak holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Florida State University.  His awards include four Meritorious Service Medals, the Air Force Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Southwest Asia Service Medal and the Kuwaiti Liberation Medal.

Bartczak and his wife Sharon live in Whitesboro. They have two children, Kaitlin and Jerrad.

The Eastern Air Defense Sector is located at Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome. A headquarters element of the U.S. Continental North American Aerospace Defense Command Region (CONR), EADS is responsible for the air defense of the eastern United States. Staffed by active-duty New York Air National Guardsmen, a Canadian Forces detachment, joint service liaison officers and federal civilians, EADS directs a variety of assets to defend more than one million square miles of airspace east of the Mississippi River.