HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- After 28 years of service to the United States Air Force, Col. Jeremy “Jer” Anderson retired during a ceremony here July 12.
Anderson served as the 388th Maintenance Group commander since June 2020, leading the 388th’s F-35A Lightning II maintainers through a pandemic, multiple short-notice deployments, programmatic sustainment challenges and an entire shift in mindset for deployed combat maintenance.
“I know that he is leaving this wing and this Air Force a better place,” said Col. Michael Gette, 388th Fighter Wing commander. “He leads up, down and sideways and there are no holes in his game. He’s been a steady presence, a voice of reason, and he’s pushed the F-35 program forward. He will be missed.”
Anderson, who joined the Air Force in 1996, graduated from Southern Illinois University and earned his commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps.
He has been a career maintenance officer, serving in numerous positions supporting the C-141B, HC-130P, F-15C, F-15E, E-3B, B-1B, F-22A and F-35A. Nearly the last decade of his career has been dedicated to F-35A maintenance and sustainment.
Prior to being assigned to Hill AFB, Anderson helped lead F-35A maintenance operations at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., before moving to Air Combat Command to run the Fifth-Generation Aircraft Division.
“When Jer speaks about what we need for F-35 sustainment, people listen,” Gette said.
Anderson’s reputation for confidence, competence and dedication earned him the respect of his peers, like Brig. Gen. Jennifer Hammerstedt, Director of Logistics Engineering and Force Protection at ACC. She served with Anderson at various points throughout his career and was the presiding official for the retirement ceremony.
His name became a noun in the maintenance community.
“Whenever there was a tough problem, leadership would look around and say, ‘We need a Jer for that,’ Hammerstedt said. “The problem, I began to realize, is that there weren’t a lot of other ‘Jers.”
Anderson credits his mother and his father, who retired from the Air Force maintenance community as a chief master sergeant, for instilling in him the values and character traits that helped him succeed in his career. He thanked them both along with his wife and children for serving alongside him.
He also thanked the maintainers and the leadership in the wing for the past four years and his final Air Force assignment.
“This has been the best leadership team and wing I’ve been a part of,” Anderson said. “I’m thankful for the latitude they have given us to get the job done. I’m grateful to all my chief master sergeants and to all my squadron commanders for leading our Airmen. I can’t think of a better way to close it out.”