Reyner thanked Nava for taking the time from his busy schedule to be here. He also thanked the many retirees for their service and friendship. “It is an honor to have you here today,” he said. “To my Army brethren, the 377th and 58th leadership, thank you for your valued partnership in this profession of arms that we share. It is an honor to serve along side you.” Both Nava and Reyner expressed their gratitude to Reyner’s employer, Southwest Airlines, for being incredibly flexible and allowing him to work with the military. “They are a huge supporter of the military and I am proud to be a part of them too,” Reyner said. Reyner, a 25 year veteran of the NMANG, graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1992 and enlisted as an F-16 egress technician. He was commissioned in the unit and went on to fill a variety of squadron/group roles to include a F-16C/D pilot, mission commander, instructor and evaluator. When the 150th Fighter Wing entered a Total Force Integration with the 58th Special Operations Wing, Reyner took on the role of unit conversion officer and was one of the first unit pilots to attend full C-130H and follow on HC-130P/N conversion training. Prior to his current assignment, he served as the commander for the 150th Special Operations Wing, responsible for training combat Personnel Rescue/Special Operations Forces mission ready aircrews, performing maintenance and sortie generation on HC/MC-130J, CV-22 and HH-60 aircraft. He was responsible for a Medical Group, Intelligence Targeting Squadron, REDHORSE mobile engineering squadron, Power Production mission, multiple agile combat support capabilities while ensuring training and equipping over 900 Wing personnel to support both state and federal missions. He also served as the director of operations (A3), HQ-NMANG commander of both the 188th Fighter Squadron and the 188th Rescue Squadron. Reyner is a command pilot with more than 2,800 flying hours and has served in Operation Southern Watch, Operation Northern Watch, Operation Noble Eagle and Operation Iraqi Freedom. As the newly promoted General winded down his remarks, he described the true meaning of leadership as the ability to serve others in a way that positively affects their lives. “Trust is the true magic of leading people and it should never be interpreted as a gain of personal importance,” Reyner said. “Trust to consider the needs of those you lead over your own. Trust to put valuable resources where they best serve the organization and your people who trust you to do the right thing.” Reyner said he hopes to live up to this lofty goal and hopes to serve our Airmen in a greater capacity. “I will work hard to earn your trust day in and day out as I perform the duties of the AAG- Air,” Reyner said. “Thanks for sharing this honor with me.”]]>
