Lt. Col. Antony Braun assumed command of the 225th Air Defense Squadron in a change of command ceremony at the Pierce County Readiness Center on October 6, 2021, on Camp Murray, Washington.

The ceremony was chaired by Colonel Raed Gyekis, commander of the 225th Air Defense Group.

Braun replaced Col. Brian Bergren, who became the new Director of Personnel at Washington Air National Guard Headquarters for Brig. General Gent Welsh, the commander of the Washington Air National Guard.

After taking command, Braun addressed members of the 225^e ADS and explained how “Team Bigfoot” makes innovative contributions on a daily basis to make the mission of the Western air defense sector more effective.

Braun explained how the Airmen of the 225^e ADS Live and Breathe, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Charles Brown, The Challenge of Accelerate change.

Brown’s most recent Air Force challenge described the need for the Air Force to embody the “over not through” mantra.

Braun explained to the audience that ‘not through’ is the idea that even when ‘everything seems like the adversary is pushing us to face them head on, we surprise them with innovation not to get through. “

Braun pointed out how the squadron used its “tools in new ways, taken degraded systems, legacy sensors and imperfect situational awareness and aggregated them to provide decision-making superiority on a daily basis.”

According to Braun, the 225th ADS innovated the mission system to have sound alerts, flash bulletins written for the entire company to model, integrated airborne sensors better and faster, built a daily emergency training program, understood how to effectively synchronize over 300 program events in four months, developed workarounds for degraded lines of communication, plan to fly with KC-135 crews to advise, assist and radio relay command guidance and NORAD control that make the Air Force Chief “unfinished” a reality.

Braun concluded his comments by explaining that “we cannot be promised that we will ever have perfect sensors, ideal conditions, God-like situational awareness, or sufficient time, resources and space to decision”. Braun wants members of the 225^e ADS to be ready to bring order, to be comfortable with the fog and friction, to have a cohesive team providing air defense, ready to defend the homeland today better than yesterday, and ready to seize all opportunities to innovate and adapt. He wants Airmen to be mentors, care for one another, be professional, and act courageously. Thus allowing the Bigfoot team to take it to the next level.

Braun graduated from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, in 2002 and was commissioned by the Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. . He is a Master Air Battle Manager with over 1,400 flight hours on the E-3B / C Sentry aircraft. He has participated in numerous combat, emergency, anti-narcotics and consequence management operations, including Operations NOBLE EAGLE, ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM. Braun is also a graduate strategic planner with experience serving strategic air defense operations as well as civil support operations following numerous national emergencies.

He is also a graduate of the United States Air Force Weapons School. Prior to assuming his current post, Braun served as the 225th ADS Director of Operations.