Kirtland Air Force Base commander Col. Robert L. Maness will retire Sept. 1 after 32 1/2 years in the military, base officials announced Thursday.
“My family had to make some decisions based on some personal reasons, and the timing is right for us to be able to do this,” Maness said Thursday. He said he and his wife, Candy, will move to New Orleans, where he will become an executive with Entergy Inc., an electric and gas utility corporation. The Manesses have five children, ranging in age from 6 to adulthood.
Maness assumed command of Kirtland’s host unit – the 377th Air Base Wing – in April 2010. He said the base accomplished much during his 17-month tenure, including “maintaining the strong relationship that the installation has with the local community and state leadership,” and furthering the base’s emphasis on nuclear stewardship.
Maness came to Kirtland four months after two key units – the 898th Munitions Squadron and its parent, the 498th Nuclear Systems Wing – were “decertified” for failing a “nuclear surety inspection” in November 2009. A nuclear surety inspection evaluates a unit’s ability to manage nuclear resources and its compliance with nuclear standards.
The decertification temporarily prevented the squadron from handling nuclear weapons stored, maintained, shipped, and rotated in and out of Kirtland’s Underground Munitions Maintenance and Storage Complex. The nonpartisan Federation of American Scientists estimates the complex has more than 2,000 nuclear warheads.
Two months after Maness assumed command, both units were reinspected and recertified.
Overall, Maness said, “I’m really proud of all the team support of our mission partners.”
“There are some unique missions here,” he said, mentioning the base’s pararescue training courses that all Air Force pararescuemen must complete as part of their training.
“Every time one of them gets hurt or we lose some in combat like we did the other day in the helicopter crash in Afghanistan, the family at Kirtland grieves for their families and for the loss of those airmen and the capabilities they represent,” Maness said.
Two of the 30 American military personnel killed in the Aug. 6 downing of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan’s Wardak province were Air Force pararescuemen, Maness said.
“Col. Maness has done a phenomenal job as 377th ABW commander – we are going to miss him and his leadership and dedication,” said Brig. Gen. Garrett Harencak, commander of the Nuclear Weapons Center.
A relinquishment of command ceremony is scheduled Aug. 30, base officials said.
