Lt. Col. Rafford Coleman, USMC, will formally relieve Cmdr. Kevin Pickard Jr., USN, as the commanding officer of Helicopter Training Squadron EIGHTEEN, Friday, Jan. 16 at the Naval Air Station Whiting Field Auditorium. The 10 a.m. ceremony will mark the transition of authority from one officer to the other in front of the assembled staff, instructors and students. Capt. Hugh Everly, Commander Helicopter Sea Combat Wing, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, will serve as the guest speaker for the occasion.
Pickard served as the squadron’s commanding officer for approximately 15 months and an additional 15 months as executive officer, during which time HT-18 set the standard for rotary wing production in every major metric including lowest time-to-train, total hours flown, and advancing sortie completion rate. He led the “Vigilant Eagles” in completing more than 55,000 mishap-free flight hours and executing in excess of 25,000 syllabus events. Furthermore, he directed a review and facilitated an upgrade to the formation and tactics training curriculum for the student aviators. Safety in flight has been a consistent theme during his tenure, and HT-18 has continued a streak of more than 42 years without a Class ‘A’ Mishap and successfully completed two Command Safety Assessments as well as a positive Safety Culture Workshop under his command.
Coleman’s support as executive officer has certainly played an important role in HT-18’s successes, and he will strive to continue the unit’s tradition of excellence as commanding officer. His career spans duty as an enlisted Marine during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm before graduating from Rutgers University in 1993 and gaining his commission. He completed helicopter flight training with HT-8 at NAS Whiting Field, becoming a Naval aviator, in 1996. Following assignments included service with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263 (HMM-263); duty as a flight instructor with HT-8; deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom; assignment to 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division and subsequent support of Operation Secure Tomorrow in Haiti; service with HMM-261; and transfer to MAG-26 at New River, N.C. More recently, Coleman participated in Flood Relief efforts in Thailand as the Expeditionary Operations officer for the III Marine Expeditionary Force from 2011 to 2013. He assumed duties as the executive officer of HT-18 in October 2013. He has accumulated more than 3,200 flight hours to this point in his career in a variety of fixed wing and rotary aircraft.
Pickard leaves the “Vigilant Eagles” to accept orders as the Navigator for the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). This will serve as the next step in his 18-year career that saw him fly with the “Black Stallions” of HC-4, the “Gunbearers” of HC-11, and the “Island Knights” of HSC-3 in Guam. He also completed tours as the Flag Lieutenant for Carrier Strike Group Two and a Military Affairs Officer for the U.S. Department of State prior to his assignment to HT-18.
Cmdr. Brian Sanderson will replace Coleman as the executive officer for the squadron.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Pickard relinquishes command of HT-18 to Coleman