AF Reserve Command vice commander retires

By / Published October 24, 2005

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Maj. Gen. John J. Batbie Jr., Air Force Reserve Command vice commander, retired after nearly 39 years of military service in a ceremony today at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, Ga.

Retired Lt. Gen. James E. Sherrard III, former Air Force Reserve chief and AFRC commander, officiated the ceremony. General Batbie’s retirement will take effect March 15.

Maj. Gen. David Tanzi, AFRC’s 10th Air Force commander, will assume responsibility for the daily operations of the command during a commander’s conference today following the retirement ceremony.

“Needless to say, the operations tempo for this command was near its peak when I returned to AFRC’s headquarters as the vice commander in November of 2001,” said General Batbie. “The credit for AFRC’s continued success goes to the more than 76,000 reservists and 4,000 civilians I had the privilege to work with.”

As the vice commander, General Batbie oversaw the day-to-day operations for the Air Force Reserve Command and its headquarters here. AFRC has about 76,100 reservists who train and deploy regularly. The command is composed of three numbered Air Forces divided into 36 wings, three flying groups, one space group, four space operations squadrons and 620 mission support units. He reported to Lt. Gen. John A. Bradley, Air Force Reserve chief and AFRC commander, who serves on the Air Staff at the Pentagon.

General Batbie began his military career in 1966 as a U.S. Army armor officer and helicopter pilot. He joined the Air Force Reserve in 1972 as a helicopter pilot and became a fixed wing pilot in 1979 after graduating from the Air Force Fixed Wing Qualification Course at Sheppard AFB, Texas. As a command pilot, he accumulated more than 5,000 flight hours in the A-10, A-37, KC-10, KC-135, AH-1G, HH-34J and CH-3E.

During his career, he had numerous supervisory and command positions, including director of operations; squadron, group, wing and numbered Air Force commander; and director of Mobilization and Reserve Component Affairs for U.S. European Command. Prior to General Bradley’s nomination, General Batbie served as the interim AFRC commander after General Sherrard’s retirement in May 2004.

In 1983, the general was the first Air Force Reserve officer to be assigned to Europe as a Reserve statutory tour officer. He coordinated Reserve affairs in both the plans and operations directorates and served as negotiator for the establishment of collocated operating bases in Greece and Turkey.

He spent more than seven years at Robins AFB. From June 1994 to September 1998, he was director of plans and programs. While in that position, General Batbie was promoted to major general July 1, 1997. After his tour at U.S European Command, he returned here as the vice commander for AFRC in November 2001.

General Batbie is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, La., where he earned his master of arts degree in business administration. He also earned his bachelor of arts degree in the same program at Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.

If you wish to comment, use the text box below. AF reserves the right to modify this policy at any time.

This is a moderated forum. That means all comments will be reviewed before posting. In addition, we expect that participants will treat each other, as well as our agency and our employees, with respect. We will not post comments that contain abusive or vulgar language, spam, hate speech, personal attacks, violate EEO policy, are offensive to other or similar content. We will not post comments that are spam, are clearly "off topic", promote services or products, infringe copyright protected material, or contain any links that don't contribute to the discussion. Comments that make unsupported accusations will also not be posted. The AF and the AF alone will make a determination as to which comments will be posted. Any references to commercial entities, products, services, or other non-governmental organizations or individuals that remain on the site are provided solely for the information of individuals using this page. These references are not intended to reflect the opinion of the AF, DoD, the United States, or its officers or employees concerning the significance, priority, or importance to be given the referenced entity, product, service, or organization. Such references are not an official or personal endorsement of any product, person, or service, and may not be quoted or reproduced for the purpose of stating or implying AF endorsement or approval of any product, person, or service.

Any comments that report criminal activity including: suicidal behaviour or sexual assault will be reported to appropriate authorities including OSI. This forum is not:

This forum is not to be used to report criminal activity. If you have information for law enforcement, please contact OSI or your local police agency.
Do not submit unsolicited proposals, or other business ideas or inquiries to this forum. This site is not to be used for contracting or commercial business.
This forum may not be used for the submission of any claim, demand, informal or formal complaint, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notice or process, or for the exhaustion of any legal and/or administrative remedy.

AF does not guarantee or warrant that any information posted by individuals on this forum is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. AF may not be able to verify, does not warrant or guarantee, and assumes no liability for anything posted on this website by any other person. AF does not endorse, support or otherwise promote any private or commercial entity or the information, products or services contained on those websites that may be reached through links on our website.

Members of the media are asked to send questions to the public affairs through their normal channels and to refrain from submitting questions here as comments. Reporter questions will not be posted. We recognize that the Web is a 24/7 medium, and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage federal resources, moderating and posting of comments will occur during regular business hours Monday through Friday. Comments submitted after hours or on weekends will be read and posted as early as possible; in most cases, this means the next business day.

For the benefit of robust discussion, we ask that comments remain "on-topic." This means that comments will be posted only as it relates to the topic that is being discussed within the blog post. The views expressed on the site by non-federal commentators do not necessarily reflect the official views of the AF or the Federal Government.

To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include personally identifiable information, such as name, Social Security number, DoD ID number, OSI Case number, phone numbers or email addresses in the body of your comment. If you do voluntarily include personally identifiable information in your comment, such as your name, that comment may or may not be posted on the page. If your comment is posted, your name will not be redacted or removed. In no circumstances will comments be posted that contain Social Security numbers, DoD ID numbers, OSI case numbers, addresses, email address or phone numbers. The default for the posting of comments is "anonymous", but if you opt not to, any information, including your login name, may be displayed on our site.

Thank you for taking the time to read this comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to an active exchange of ideas.

AF Reserve Command vice commander retires

AFRC Headlines

AF Headlines

Social Media