CAMP JOSEPH T. ROBINSON, NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – An Air Force officer with more than 25 years of service will take command of the Arkansas Air National Guard in a ceremony on Little Rock Air Force Base at 1 p.m. June 6
Col. Matthew M. Groves, most recently the senior military advisor to the deputy undersecretary of defense for force development and emerging capabilities at the Pentagon, will assume overall command of 2,000 Air National Guardsmen from Brig. Gen. William M. Leahy. The Arkansas Air National Guard consists of two wings, the 188th Wing at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith, Ark., and the 189th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville, Ark., and geographical separated units, providing ready Airmen for ongoing global military operations and response to domestic emergencies for the Governor of Arkansas.
Groves commissioned a second lieutenant through Officer Training School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in 1999. He has extensive involvement with joint and interagency counter-drug operations and expertise in the United States Southern Command area of operations. He has commanded aircrews on combat missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkans region, as well as domestic humanitarian missions. He has extensive legislative expertise, serving as a Congressional Fellow and Legislative Liaison for both the Air Force and Office of the Secretary of Defense.
He is a command pilot with more than 2,000 hours in the T-37, T-44, C-130E/H/J, C-17A, and KC-135. His decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with six oak leaf clusters, Air Medal, Aerial Achievement Medal with one oak leaf cluster, Air Force Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster, and the Army Commendation Medal.
Leahy’s next assignment is as the Air National Guard assistant to the commander, United States Air Forces Central Command.
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