Nelson Assumes Massachusetts Wing Command

Col. Tim Nelson

Col. Tim Nelson is the new commander of the Massachusetts Wing, succeeding Col. John S. Flaherty.

A member of Civil Air Patrol since joining the Westover Composite4 Squadron in September 1991, Nelson served as the wing’s director of safety from November 2009-November 2013 and then as director of operations from November 2013 until assuming command last week.

He is a CAP senior incident commander, a command pilot with more than 6,000 flight hours, a mission pilot, a mission check pilot and a cadet orientation pilot.

For his performance as a mission pilot in CAP’s three years of service flying escorts for MQ-9 Reapers from Syracuse, New York, to the Fort Drum training area, Nelson is the only civilian ever awarded a tactical call sign – “Sade” – by the New York Air National Guard ‘s108th Attack Squadron. He flew 56 weeks during that mission.
 

Nelson philosophy on leadership is to lead from the front, lift up his team members, and never shy away from a challenge but instead find a way to accomplish the task at hand.