Col. John Patrick, incoming commander of Space Forces Korea, speaks at the change of command ceremony at Osan Air Base, South Korea, July 12, 2024. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — The first guardian to lead U.S. Space Forces Korea passed his duties to the former director of the NATO Space Centre during a ceremony at this air base Friday.
Space Force Lt. Col. Joshua McCullion relinquished his command to Col. John Patrick during a ceremony in front of roughly 200 people, 20 of them guardians in formation, inside a hangar.
McCullion became the first guardian to command Space Forces Korea, the first Space Force component command in the Far East, on Dec. 14, 2022. He starts his next role as U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s division chief of space and integrated air and ballistic missile defense at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, on Tuesday.
In a speech, McCullion stressed the need for a “free and open space domain” and for the U.S. to continue building its military partnership with South Korea.
“We must continue to collaborate in the joint coalition, interagency, academic and commercial partnerships to expand our competitive advantage,” he said. “I believe this alliance exemplifies that partnership to win, grounded in mutual trust.”
Patrick thanked McCullion for his work building the command from scratch.
“I left NATO dragging my feet after building the space from nothing over the past eight years, and here I walk into what you have built,” Patrick said in his remarks.
Patrick was NATO’s Space Centre director at the Allied Air Command headquarters in Ramstein Air Base, Germany, since 2019. The multinational organization declared space an operational domain in 2019 and created the Space Center the following year, according to NATO’s website.
Prior to that assignment, Patrick was a staff officer for Space Operations in Mons, Belgium, according to his official biography. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in history and received his commission through the Air Force officer training school in 1998.
Patrick said the military “must be ironclad with space like we are with all other domains” and described the defense apparatus as being interconnected.
“Space is an active domain that must be defended; it is critical that we link as one.”
U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Paul LaCamera shakes hands with Lt. Col. Joshua McCullion, outgoing commander of Space Forces Korea at Osan Air Base, South Korea, July 12, 2024. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. Forces Korea commander Army Gen. Paul LaCamera, who presided over the ceremony, said the change of command was an “important milestone” for the military.
Space Forces Korea provides regional space services, such as missile detection and warning and satellite communications. The component command has taken part in joint drills in South Korea, including the large-scale, 11-day Freedom Shield Exercise in March.
Space has been a focus on the Korean Peninsula in recent years. Of four attempts by North Korea to launch a military spy satellite since 2023, one succeeded. South Korea successfully launched a military satellite in April, its second launch since December.
