Maxwell Air Force Base Commander Col. Eries L.G. Mentzer will deliver the keynote address at Troy University’s Fall Commencement on the Montgomery Campus.
The event is set for 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 13 in Davis Theater and about 160 students are expected to participate in the ceremony.
As commander of the 42nd Air Wing Base, Mentzer leads all base operating, infrastructure and services support for the 42,000 active duty, reserve and contract personnel, students and families at Maxwell and Gunter Annex.
She provides direct support to Air University, the 908th Airlift wing, Air Force Materiel Command units, the Defense Information Systems Agency and more than 40 mission partners who operate on the base. She partners with local officials across a three-county, 12-city region with an annual military economic impact oof $1.2 billion.
Mentzer commissioned in 1997, graduating with academic distinction from the University of Nebraska. She has served as an Air Force Intern for the Deputy Secretary of Defense, a Major Command Legislative Liaison, a Squadron Commander in Southwest Asia, a Joint Staff Planner, an Executive Officer to the Joint Staff Director, Chief Speechwriter to the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, Executive Officer to the Air Force Chief of Staff, a Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars National Defense Fellow, and as the Vice Commander of a Navy-led Joint Base. Prior to her current position, she led the Air Force Transition Team, coordinating all ceremonial and administrative milestones to retire the 21st and appoint the 22nd Air Force Chief of Staff.
Admission to the ceremony requires a ticket, which are distributed through the graduates.
