Air Force fires two medical commanders at Joint Base Charleston
Two commanders were fired and a senior enlisted leader was reassigned on March 14.
The commanding officer of an Air Force medical group at Joint Base Charleston has been relieved and the unit’s senior enlisted advisor reassigned while the commander of a squadron within the group was also fired, Air Force officials confirmed.
Air Force Col. Anadis Collado has been relieved as commanding officer of the 628th Medical Group, said Joint Base Charleston spokesman 1st Lt Taylor Ferry. Lt. Col. Douglas Grabowski has also been relieved as commander of the 628th Healthcare Operations Squadron, a smaller unit within the group under Collado’s command.
The two were relieved “due to a loss in trust and confidence in their ability to lead,” Ferry told Task & Purpose on Tuesday.
Chief Master Sgt. Ann Johnson has also been replaced as the 628th Medical Group’s senior enlisted leader, Ferry said in a statement.
No further information was immediately available on why Collado and Grabowski were relieved and Johnson reassigned. The phrase “loss of confidence” is a boilerplate term that military leaders commonly use rather than specify reasons why officers and non-commissioned officers are relieved of duty. Commanders in every military service can be fired for a wide range of reasons, from poor performance or leadership within their unit to personal issues outside of work.
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“The 628 ABW [Air Base Wing] is committed to maintaining good order and discipline by holding leaders to Air Force standards and expectations,” Ferry said.
Air Force Times first reported on Monday that Air Force Col. Michael Freeman, commander of the 628th Air Base Wing, had relieved both Collado and Grabowski and reassigned Johnson on March 14.
The 628th Medical Group has about 270 people and provides medical services to about 63,000 troops and their families, including dental care to 4,000 active-duty service members, assigned to Joint Base Charleston.
Air Force Lt. Col. Syreeta Lawrence is currently serving as the 628th Medical Group’s commander, Maj. Joseph Estep has been named commander of the 628th Healthcare Operations Squadron, and Senior Master Sgt. Hector Velazquez Ramos is the new senior enlisted leader of the 628th Medical Group.
Task & Purpose was unable to reach Collado and Grabowski, and could not find contact information for Johnson.
Military services generally only disclose details of firings under Freedom of Information Act requests, which Task & Purpose has used in the past, including to discover the reasons the Army relieved its housing chief in 2019. However, the process of releasing relevant documents usually takes months.
The relief of commanders by senior leaders is a core tenant of military leadership and hierarchy. In all four services, the firing of a commander is infrequent but not exceptionally rare. Task & Purpose reported in January that the Navy fired 16 commanders, for a broad range of reason, in 2023. So far this month, the commanding officer of the U.S. Marine Corps School of Infantry West and a subordinate commander in charge of the Reconnaissance Training Company were both fired on March 8 while the captain of the guided missile submarine USS Ohio’s Gold Crew was fired on March 11.
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