MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- 908th Airlift Wing Commander, Col. Craig W. Drescher, transferred command of the 908th Aeromedical Staging Squadron from Col. Stephen V. Secraw to Col. Katie S. Nason during a change of command ceremony, Sept. 9, 2023, at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
Secraw, whom Drescher defined as a “great example of a transformational servant leader” who “puts his squadron and Airmen above himself,” served as the ASTS commander since September 2020. He was the chief medical readiness advisor to the commander, ensuring a healthy and fit force of Airmen to maximize the operational readiness of the wing. Under his leadership, the wing’s overall medical readiness doubled and enabled the wing to deploy nearly 300 members in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Secraw began his military career in 1987 and was assigned to the 1962nd Communications Squadron at Kadena Air Base, Japan, as an air traffic controller. After earning a degree in nursing, he direct commissioned into the 934th ASTS, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Air Reserve Station, in 2001 as a critical care air transport nurse. Prior to his current position, he was the chief nurse and flight medical readiness officer of the 932nd Aeromedical Staging Squadron, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
As a member of the Air Force Reserve, Secraw has provided medical care and aeromedical evacuation staging during several contingencies, which included Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, Freedom’s Sentinel and NATO’s Resolute Support. Additionally, he was the commander of the 455th En Route Patient Staging Facility, 455th Expeditionary Medical Group, Craig Joint Theater Hospital, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, from October 2017 to May 2018.
In his farewell to the Airmen whom he led for the past three years, Secraw urged them to, “Take care of yourself, take care of your family, and take care of each other. And please always ask yourself - If we can do it better, is good - good enough?”
Secraw is succeeded by Nason, a fully qualified, dual-board certified thoracic and general surgeon and associate professor of surgery at the University of Massachusetts - Baystate in Springfield, Massachusetts. She directly commissioned to the Air Force Reserve as a general surgeon in training in 1998 after completing medical school at Oregon Health and Sciences University.
In her opening remarks, Nason stated that she felt honored and privileged to be a part of the 908th ASTS.
“My plan is to support you in your processes and learn from you,” she said. “I will also push you to even greater heights so that we are setting the standard for readiness at all times.”
Nason has 25 years of service as a traditional reservist, serving in the capacities of chief of medical operations and chief of medical staff for the 910th Medical Squadron, Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio, chief of medical staff and surgeon for the 932d Medical Squadron, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and as a surgeon for the 604th Medical Squadron and the 349th Contingency Hospital at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington.