When he first stepped foot on Hunter Army Airfield, Chris Black was an 18-year-old Army private fresh out of basic training.
Twenty-six years later, the soldier — now a lieutenant colonel — returned to the Savannah military installation where his career began as an Army Ranger to take the reins of another special operations unit based there.
“It’s incredible,” Black said of his return to Hunter. “It was unimaginable then, and it’s still hard for me to believe now that I’ve been able to come back to Savannah — to such a great military community.”
Black on Friday morning took command of the 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment during a ceremony at Hunter’s Truscott Air Terminal.
The lieutenant colonel, who has spent the majority of his military career in the Army’s special operations community, replaced Lt. Col. Bill Golden who for the last two years led the elite aviation unit that flies specialized versions of the Army’s Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters.
During Golden’s tenure, the 3rd Night Stalker battalion was highly successful both in combat and in its other roles, said Col. John Evans, the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based commander of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.
“Over the last two years under the steady hand of Lt. Col. Bill Golden the (3rd Battalion) has excelled on the battlefield in Afghanistan, supported numerous joint and combined exchanges and Joint Chiefs of Staff exercises, provided precision in quick reaction force support to the United States Secret Service while protecting the president, and accomplished more internal and multilateral training than during any period in this unit’s history,” Evans said.
Acknowledging that much of what the Night Stalkers do is not relayed to the general public, Golden offered glimpses of some of his fondest memories of leading SOAR soldiers during his final speech in uniform.
He thanked his soldiers for their “dedication to whatever mission we asked you to do.”
“Your service over the past two years has been significant,” said Golden, who is retiring after a 20-year Army career. “I often refer to you as the blue-collar battalion. We just work hard for anybody. We’ll gladly fire or fight with everyone, and we provide all with the same great level of service.”
Golden said he is leaving the battalion in its new commander’s capable hands.
Black, acknowledging it would be difficult to follow Golden as the unit’s leader, said he wanted to continue to build on the foundation Golden and other Night Stalker commanders have built.
Leading soldiers, the incoming 3rd Battalion commander said, is always an honor, but commanding elite soldiers is “something truly special.”
“This means the world,” Black said. “One of the things that sets this unit apart is the caring of all the soldiers. What they do, how they act and how they perform. To be around a bunch of young men and women that are so dedicated it really and truly warms your heart. To come back here and lead and work with these soldiers in the Night Stalker family is just a tremendous honor.”