689th CCW welcomes new commander Published June 17, 2011 By Wayne Crenshaw 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- The 689th Combat Communications Wing said goodbye to its first commander and welcomed its second Wednesday. In a ceremony at the Museum of Aviation, Col. Joseph Scherrer accepted command from Col. Theresa Giorlando. He will now lead the wing which stood up in 2009. "Excited doesn't capture it," Scherrer told hundreds of the wing's Airmen after accepting command. "I can envision no better opportunity for a cyberspace operator." The unit used its expertise to create a video link of the ceremony to its separated arm, the 3rd Combat Communications Group at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. The other part of the unit is the 5th Combat Communications Group at Robins, where the headquarters is located. The wing falls under the 24th Air Force. Maj. Gen. Suzanne Vautrinot, 24th Air Force commander, had high praise for the job Giorlando did. "To stand up and bring this team together took an unbelievable amount of courage and innovation in command leadership," she said. The 689th's mission is to train, deploy and deliver expeditionary and specialized communications, air-traffic control and landing systems for combat and relief operations. Its 1,500 members have conducted operations around the globe during the wing's first two years. The assignment is the last for Giorlando, who is retiring after 27 years in the Air Force. "You are the cornerstone of cyberspace and are out there establishing communications where it's never existed before," she told the Airmen before relinquishing command.