{"id":15182,"date":"2012-06-25T15:00:34","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T19:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=15182"},"modified":"2012-06-25T14:39:27","modified_gmt":"2012-06-25T18:39:27","slug":"lt-col-to-command-310th-air-squadron-at-macdill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=15182","title":{"rendered":"Lt. Col. To Command 310th Air Squadron At MacDill"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY TAMECA JOHNSON<\/strong>
\n Freelance Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Derrick Hodges<\/strong> always knew he wanted to make a difference.\u00a0 He had big shoes to fill, joining the military nearly 20 years ago following in his father\u2019s footsteps.\u00a0 He has by far exceeded expectations during his life of service.<\/p>\n

Hodges<\/strong> now holds the title of Lieutenant Colonel Commander of the 310th Airlift Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base.\u00a0 He is the first African American to ever hold the position.<\/p>\n

That leadership role puts him in charge of the unit responsible for transporting senior civilian and military leaders in the Department of Defense.\u00a0 This means he is responsible for the aircraft and personnel that transport such high profile leaders as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton<\/strong> and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta<\/strong>.\u00a0 As Commander, Lt. Col. Hodge<\/strong>s is also responsible for the combat readiness of 60 crew members and the worldwide employment of three specially equipped C 37A aircraft.<\/p>\n

His rise to the top has been years in the making and is due in large part to the standards set by his father, the late Chief Warrant Officer 4 Joseph Hodges<\/strong>, a 27-year retired Army veteran.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been fortunate to have served with many fine officers and enlisted leaders,\u201d Lt. Col. Hodges<\/strong> admits.\u00a0 \u201cBut my father has always been the leader and role model I try to emulate.\u00a0 He led by example and often shared insights from his career with me.\u201d\u00a0 His father not only mentored him, but numerous other junior officers who later became well respected and accomplished Army officers.<\/p>\n

Lt. Col. Hodges<\/strong> was born in Oklahoma, but has lived across the globe.\u00a0 He holds numerous degrees, including a Bachelor of Science from Tulane University, a Master\u2019s in Aeronautical Science in Operations and Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a Master\u2019s in Strategic Intelligence from National Defense University.\u00a0 He has logged more than 3,100 hours of flight time and is not even 40 years old yet.<\/p>\n

Lt. Col. Hodges<\/strong> officially took over the position during a Changing of the Guard Ceremony Friday (June 22nd) at MacDill A. F. B.\u00a0 His mother, Joann Hodges<\/strong>, along with several other family members traveled long distances to witness the historic event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can talk all day about my son,\u201d she says.\u00a0 \u201cBut my first thought is \u2018my husband would be so proud.\u2019\u00a0 He passed away in 2008 and looking back on it, he once said to me, \u2018Having Derrick<\/strong> was the one something we did right.\u2019\u00a0 Derrick<\/strong> is our only child.\u00a0 This is just all surreal to me.\u00a0 I hope to live long enough after he retires and gets a job with a commercial airline, to be on a plane going anywhere and hear the pilot come on the intercom and introduce himself as \u2018Captain Derrick Hodges<\/strong>.\u2019\u00a0 That\u2019s when I\u2019ll throw up my hands and say \u2018God you can take me now!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Lt. Col. Hodges<\/strong> is married to Robin Rice-Hodges<\/strong>.\u00a0 They are the proud parents of three children and members of First Baptist Church of College Hill. One of his son\u2019s recently graduated from Howard University and is commissioning into the United States Army as a 2nd lieutenant this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY TAMECA JOHNSON Freelance Writer Derrick Hodges always knew he wanted to make a difference.\u00a0 He had big shoes to fill, joining the military nearly 20 years ago following in his father\u2019s footsteps.\u00a0 He has by far exceeded expectations during his life of service. Hodges now holds the title of Lieutenant Colonel Commander of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}