Rear Adm. Kyle J. Cozad relieved Rear Adm. Sandy L. Daniels as Commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Group/Commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Group Pacific (CPRG/CPRGP) in a change of command ceremony Aug. 20 at Center Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit Oceana in Virginia Beach.

Cozad, who served as Commander, Joint Task Force-Guantanamo since July 2014, assumed his duties as CPRG/CPRGP.

Cozad is a 1985 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Oceanography/Physics. His operational Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft (MPRA) tours span across all four MPR sites.

Cozad served extensively as an instructor pilot in multiple operational tours, completed two tours with Patrol Squadron (VP) 30, the P-3 Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS), and another with 404 Squadron in Greenwood, Nova Scotia, where he was a CP-140 exchange instructor pilot with the Canadian Air Force.

Daniels commanded CPRG/CPRGP since February 2015 and was the first female commander since the command's establishment in 1948. She will be transitioning into retirement and will be returning back to Washington, D.C.

CPRG/CPRGP provides oversight to more than 7,000 men and women operating the U.S. Navy's maritime patrol aircraft including the P-8A "Poseidon", P-3C "Orion", EP-3 "Aries II" and MQ-4C "Triton" unmanned aircraft system.

The Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF) is organized into three Patrol and Reconnaissance Wings at NAS Jacksonville, Florida, NAS Whidbey Island, Washington and NAS Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Composed of 14 Patrol and Reconnaissance squadrons, one FRS and over 45 subordinate commands, the MPRF is the Navy's premier provider for airborne Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Anti-Surface Warfare (ASUW), and Maritime Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations.