Wing commander receives new assignment Published Feb. 22, 2012 By Susan Griggs 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Brig. Gen. Andrew Mueller, 81st Training Wing commander, has been selected for a new assignment as Commander, E3A, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Airborne Early Warning and Control Force, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Geilenkirchen, Germany. His successor is Col. Bradley Spacy, who currently serves as Chief, Senate Liaison Office, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force at the Pentagon, Washington. A date for the change of command hasn't been set. Mueller, wing commander since July 2010, commands 12,000 Airmen and civilians, providing technical training for officers, enlisted and civilians of the Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve as well as other Department of Defense agencies. The training covers numerous electronic, computer, weather, medical, personnel, comptroller, and information management career fields, and creates combat capability for air expeditionary, space and cyberspace forces. An Air Force Academy graduate, Mueller is a master air battle manager with more than 3,800 hours flying on the E-3 AWACS aircraft. The general commanded the 964th Airborne Air Control Squadron, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., leading the squadron through deployments in support of operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Noble Eagle. As commander of the 505th Training Group, Hurlburt Field, Fla., he was responsible for providing education and training to joint and coalition warfighters on air and space command and control weapons systems and procedures at the operational level of war. Mueller served on the staff of U.S. Pacific Command where he was responsible for the integration of command and control systems, missile defense and space operations. Before coming to Keesler, he was deputy commander, Combined Air Operations Center 6, Allied Air Forces Southern Europe, NATO, Eskisehir, Turkey. The center was responsible for Southern Region NATO air policing, as well as training and preparing defensive and offensive forces to support crisis management actions and transition to wartime employment. Spacy, who's been selected and confirmed for promotion to brigadier general, currently is responsible for congressional legislative affairs in the U.S. Senate, articulating and communicating Air Force priorities and programs to senators and staff members. Spacy, a 1987 ROTC distinguished graduate of Fresno State University, Calif., is a career security forces officer with extensive air base defense and antiterrorism/force protection experience. The colonel is no newcomer to Keesler, having served as executive officer to the commander of 2nd Air Force from 1994-96. He's commanded a security forces squadron and the Air Force Honor Guard, where he led more than 250 Airmen in ceremonies for the president and other high-level military and civilian leaders. As the director of force protection for U.S. Air Forces Central Command Forward during Operations Enduring/Iraqi Freedom, Spacy created, planned, and participated in Operation Desert Safeside/Task Force 1041, an offensive ground combat operation to kill or capture insurgent forces in Iraq. Spacy also commanded the 375th Mission Support Group, Scott AFB, Ill., and the 88th Air Base Wing, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.