Hockessin, Delaware resident Col. David Deputy to be promoted to general in Delaware Air National Guard

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Colonel David E. Deputy, chief of staff, Delaware Air National Guard, a Delaware native and current resident of Hockessin, Delaware, will be promoted to brigadier general this Saturday, December 1, 2012, in a ceremony starting at 10:30 a.m. at Delaware ANG Headquarters in New Castle, Del.

As chief of staff, Col. Deputy serves as the principle advisor to the Commander of the Delaware ANG for all ANG issues. He is responsible for assisting in the planning, directing, and administering of programs for approximately 1,100 ANG personnel within the State. He is further responsible for providing trained, equipped, and mission readiness forces in support of federal mobilization requirements and state emergency operations. He develops plans, programs, and policies in support of the Delaware ANG 166th Airlift Wing's mission to include C-130 tactical airlift, air and land drop of troops, cargo and passengers, aeromedical evacuation of patients worldwide, civil engineering, and network warfare. Col. Deputy maintains liaison with major commands and the National Guard Bureau.

Colonel Deputy received his commission through the ANG Academy of Military Science in 1984 where he was a Distinguished Graduate.

He is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom having served as the Director of Staff, 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, Southwest Asia. The composite wing included strike; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; mobility evacuation; and command and control assets in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. This wing provided support to more than 11,000 Air Force, joint and coalition forces.

Prior to receiving his commission, Col. Deputy served as an enlisted member of the 166th Security Forces Squadron of the Delaware ANG starting in 1976, and has achieved 36 continuous years of service in the Delaware ANG as of this year.

Colonel Deputy is a former Delaware State Trooper who retired in 2003 as a captain with 24 years of service.

(Note to editors: News media are welcome to attend ceremony. Please call ahead to confirm attendance to Delaware Air Guard Public Affairs, 302-593-2126. Address: 2600 Spruance Dr., New Castle, DE 19720)

Further biographical details follow:

Colonel David E. Deputy was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1957. After graduating from John Dickinson High School in Wilmington, Del., he enlisted in the Delaware ANG in April of 1976. Later that year, at the rank of airman basic, Col. Deputy attended U.S. Air Force Basic Training and the U.S. Air Force Security Police Academy at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. He later served the Delaware ANG full-time as a state technician in the 166th Security Forces Squadron.

On his 21st birthday, Col. Deputy began his 24 year career with the Delaware State Police. During his career as a trooper, some of his assignments included patrol, criminal investigation, Special Operations Response Team and director of the State Bureau of Identification.

In 1984, Col. Deputy earned his commission through the Academy of Military Science graduating as a distinguished graduate. Subsequently he served in various leadership positions in the 166th Airlift Wing including 12 years as a commander of the 166th Services Flight and the 166th Mission Support Flight. Col. Deputy served 180 days in support of Operation Noble Eagle assigned to the 166th AW Crisis Action Team immediately following the September 11, 2011 terrorist attacks on N.Y.C. and the Pentagon.

After retiring in 2003 from the Delaware State Police at the rank of captain, Col. Deputy began his second tour of full-time service in the Delaware ANG in the Active Guard Reserve program. He served as the chief of staff for the 166th AW and later as the deputy chief of staff, personnel for the Delaware National Guard Joint Force Headquarters, responsible for acting on behalf of The Adjutant General in personnel matters involving the administration, training and operations of all Delaware Army and Air National Guard units.

In 2012, Col. Deputy voluntarily deployed for six months to Southwest Asia in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as the Director of Staff for the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing. He was responsible for an air base with 11,000 personnel assigned to execute over 50 daily combat sorties. Missions included B-1 Close Air Support to ground forces in Afghanistan, intelligence, search and reconnaissance, aeromedical evacuation, aerial fueling, airlift, air drop and other missions throughout the region.

Colonel Deputy completed Air War College in 2006, and obtained a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Wilmington University, Delaware in 1980, and a Master of Science in Criminal Justice from Wilmington University in 2009. Additionally he is a 1991 graduate of the FBI National Academy.

Colonel Deputy has a long family lineage of proud service in the Delaware National Guard. His son Staff Sgt. Craig Deputy serves as a C-130 loadmaster in the 142nd Airlift Squadron and is the fourth generation of Deputy family members serving in the Delaware National Guard. His father Raymond Deputy was a first lieutenant, and his grandfather Walter Deputy was a first sergeant, both serving many years in the Delaware Army National Guard and the Delaware State Guard. Col. Deputy's first cousin, Retired Brig. Gen. (Delaware) Kennard R. Wiggins Jr., served 38 years in the Delaware ANG and his father, Kennard Wiggins, Sr. was a charter member of the Delaware ANG.

Colonel Deputy resides with his wife Florence and his son Brent in Hockessin, Delaware.

The Delaware ANG has 1,100 members, and continually deploys personnel and subordinate units around the globe.

This release is in the public domain, and any part may be used as written.

Delaware Air National Guard:
Celebrating 66 years of Citizen-Airman service to our state and nation, 1946-2012

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