HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. —

Hundreds of family, friends and teammates gathered as U.S. Air Force Col. Claude K. Tudor, Jr., commander of the 24th Special Operations Wing, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general during a ceremony Feb. 8, here.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Brad Webb, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, was the presiding official during the ceremony.

“There’s a few things we want in a general officer,” Webb said. “We want officers of character; those that are competent; those that are professional; those that have integrity; that are team players; that have compassion for their troops, our charges after all; those that are intellectually curious; those that have strategic vision…tying complex ideas to the other; being prudently audacious, never quitting; and of course, wrapped up in our motto, understanding there is a way and we will find it.”

Webb concluded with stating Tudor is all of this and more.

Tudor earned an Air Force commission through the Troy State University Reserve Officer Training Corps program in 1992 and immediately entered the pipeline to become a Special Tactics officer.  

As a Special Tactics Officer, Tudor is specially trained in the planning and employment of Special Tactics Teams at all levels of command to provide: global access for force projection; precision strike, i.e. close air support, combined arms, and strategic attack; personnel recovery/combat search and rescue, and battlefield trauma surgery.

Tudor has spent the preponderance of his career in special operations ground combat assignments and deployed extensively in support of joint and coalition special operations leading combat, humanitarian assistance and peacekeeping operations globally.

Tudor took command of Air Force Special Operations Command’s 24th SOW Mar. 8, 2018, and is responsible for preparing Air Force Special Tactics Teams to conduct global air, space, and cyber-enabled special operations across the spectrum of conflict to prepare for, fight, and win our nation’s wars. These Airmen are disciplined and hand-selected Airmen to lead joint operations and deliver solutions to the nation’s most complex military challenges. The 24th SOW is the only wing in the Air Force dedicated to training, equipping and providing Special Tactics Airmen for immediate deployment into combat operations.

Tudor gave remarks during the ceremony, driving home his motivation to continue serving Airmen, his passion, and he attributed his success to many in the audience.

“It’s not just about the individual DNA, but also the family, the neighbors, school teachers, and friends who are like family and forged me to who I am today; so thank you for coming and sharing in this event with us,” Tudor said.

Tudor is a qualified military free fall jumper, a static line jumpmaster with more than 400 jumps, combat diver, Federal Aviation Administration certified Air Traffic Controller, and Joint Terminal Attack Controller.

His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with oak leaf cluster, Defense Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Gallant Unit Citation, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Valor and eight devices and Air Force Recognition Ribbon.

By Senior Airman Joseph Pick, 24th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 9th, 2019 at 18:00 and is filed under Air Force, Battlefield Airman, Guest Post, SOF. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.