U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Matthew Brancato is the new commander of the 127th Wing and Selfridge Air National Guard Base. Brancato took command in a Saturday ceremony. (Photo courtesy of the 127th Wing)

By Journal Staff

SELFRIDGE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE — U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Matthew Brancato took command of the 127th Wing and the downstate Selfridge Air National Guard Base during a ceremony at the base on Saturday, closing out Brig. Gen. Rolf E. Mammen’s four-year term in the position.

The ceremony, presided over by Michigan Air National Guard commander Maj. Gen. Bryan Teff, was attended by nearly 1,500 airmen assigned to the 127th Wing and numerous SANGB, community and elected leaders.

“Under Brig. Gen. Mammen’s authentic leadership, Team Selfridge has been molded into a lethal, agile, and resilient force,” Teff said in a news release. “Faced with a significant paradigm change, Brig. Gen. Mammen forged the path toward laying a new foundation, coupled with growing and developing wing capability.”

Mammen, who will transition to a new position at the Michigan National Guard’s, Joint Forces Headquarters, recognized the airmen for whom he served and imparted praise to Brancato as he relinquished command.

“This job has been the best job I’ve had in the U.S. Air Force, and that’s because of you,” Mammen told the airmen. “I feel like Brig. Gen. Brancato is the luckiest person in this room, because serving in this role has been the greatest honor.”

In addition to leading the wing, as SANGB commander Brancato will lead what Teff referred to as “the last of the super bases, an installation critical to the national security of our country.” With more than 70 tenant, military and Department of Homeland Security commands, composed of more than 5,000 personnel, SANGB is one of the oldest and most complex Air National Guard Bases in the country, according to the wing.

Despite the weighty responsibility, Teff says that Brancato is equipped to fill Mammen’s shoes.

“Brig. Gen. Brancato is the right leader at the right time to build and grow upon what Brig. Gen. Mammen has done here at Selfridge,” Teff said.

Brancato most recently served as the senior executive officer to the 29th Chief of the National Guard Bureau at the Pentagon. He has commanded at all levels of the Air Force, most recently as the commander of the 164th Airlift Wing in Memphis.

“I look forward to working with the amazing team here at the 127th Wing and I want to continue to invest in you, your families and this base’s future,” Brancato said.

Brancato said that the 127th Wing’s accolades have not gone unnoticed, and that outside of Michigan, SANGB is viewed as an asset worthy of the enduring fighter and air refueling mission, a “super base” critical to domestic security.

“Selfridge stands ready to receive future missions as well as ready to execute current taskings,” Brancato said in a news release. “With all of us together, the nation will continue to see Selfridge as a National Guard treasure.”