"Team Quicksand" of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17 held a change of command on board Naval Air Station (NAS) Lemoore, March 30. Capt. Christopher S. Ford relieved Capt. John J. Mann as commander, CVW-17 during the ceremony. Rear Adm. James Bynum, commander, Carrier Strike Group Nine, presided over the ceremony. A native of Westport, Connecticut, Mann received his commission in 1991 from the U.S. Naval Academy and was designated a naval aviator in July 1994. Capt. Mann has logged more than 4,300 flight hours, and has accumulated more than 1,100 carrier-arrested landings. Mann masterfully led CVW-17 through multiple joint and pre-deployment work-up exercises and led from the front during CVW-17's Advanced Readiness Programs (ARP). His inspirational leadership enabled the completion of eight squadron ARPs, safely flying 1,800 hours and 1,150 sorties while building the vital foundation of lethality for the strike warfare arm of the carrier strike group. It was through these operations that he afforded CVW-17 the training to remain survivable and effective in any warfare scenario. He instilled a climate of tactical and strategic excellence. Capt. Mann's assignments include tours with Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 137 as a junior officer, Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific as a tactics instructor, and VFA-195 as the training officer and department head. He commanded VFA-25 "The Fist of the Fleet." He has completed deployments aboard USS Constellation (CV 64), USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). Mann is a graduate from the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN), and he earned a graduate degree from the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Capt. Ford received his commission as part of the Naval Reserve Training Corps at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1993. He was designated a Naval Aviator in November 1996. Capt. Ford's assignments include tours with VFA-22 as a junior officer, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 9 as an operational test director, CVW-9 as the strike operations officer, and VFA-147 as department head. He commanded the VFA-115 Eagles and completed deployments aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), and USS George Washington (CVN 73). CVW-17 is comprised of "The Fighting Red Cocks" of VFA-22, "The Stingers" of VFA-113, "The Mighty Shrikes" of VFA-94, "The Cougars" of Electronic Attack Squadron 139 (VAQ-139), "The Sun Kings" of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 116 (VAW-116), "The Indians" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 6 (HSC-6), and "The Battlecats" of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73 (HSM-73). CVW-17 is attached to Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group. For more information, visit http://www.navy.mil, http://www.facebook.com/usnavy, or http://www.twitter.com/usnavy.