By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Air National Guard personnel are under new leadership at the 139th Airlift Wing based at Rosecrans Memorial Airport in St. Joseph.
Col. Barrett Golden has taken over for Col. John Cluck as base commander. Golden served as Cluck’s vice commander and says he got to see first-hand the passion Cluck had for the base.
“Biggest take away for me is just to see him balance both, not only strategic level engagements, but the political level engagements,” Golden tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “And the importance of how you have to have both of those sometimes to get some success with regard to some of your initiatives you’re trying to go after.”
The Air Guard employs approximately 1,000 people at the 139th, both flying C-130H cargo planes and training pilots from across the country and throughout the world at its Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center. The Air Guard, as its leaders state, serves two masters: the state of Missouri and the United States. It must be prepared to respond to disasters in Missouri as well as any military mission in which the country is engaged.
Golden says he will continue some of the initiatives that took shape under Cluck. The 139th is continuing to complete new buildings north of Rosecrans, out of the flood plain, as it prepares to move from its current location.
“We have a few properties we’ve already built up north. Our next initiative is to absolutely build what we call the fuel cell hangar,” according to Golden. “One of our issues with regard to obtaining the C-130J model is our fuel cell hangar is not quite big enough to its specifications required.”
Also, Golden will continue to seek the new “J” model C-130 planes from the Air National Guard. The 139th got passed over during the initial allocation, but huge improvements to Rosecrans, including a new Traffic Control Tower, is expected to satisfy the shortcomings that led to the local base not getting the aircraft.
Golden also is pressing to get a new C-130 simulator at the base. He says the 139th needs a C-130J simulator with the Air Force moving on from the C-130H model planes.
Golden says the base must always be thinking of its future and consider its contingencies.
“If we are not selected for the C-130J model, we’ve got to continue to think of course of action number two: going after a potential other mission set,” Golden says. “We are very adamant about maintaining a flying mission at the 139th Airlift Wing. So, what is next aircraft? That is the second concerning, or challenge, that I would say that I’m looking at right now.”
Golden came to the St. Joseph base in the summer of 2011 as Advanced Tactics Aircrew Course Director at the Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center. He became Assistant Director of Operations of the center in late 2012, moving up to the director in 2014. Golden became Vice Commander of the 139th Airlift Wing in April of 2024.
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