WV WING COMMANDER – COL PAUL G. MCCROSKEY II

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WV Wing Commander – Col Paul G. McCroskey II

Col Paul G. McCroskey II joined the Civil Air Patrol in May of 1995 as an Air Force ROTC cadet at Kent State University, Kent, OH. After serving several years as an active duty Air Force officer, Col McCroskey rejoined CAP in November 2008 as a member of the Akron Canton Senior Squadron, Akron, OH. He began his tenure in Civil Air Patrol as the Safety Officer for his unit. He also earned his CAP Mission Observer, Mission Scanner, Check Pilot and Instructor Pilot while serving with the Ohio Wing. In September 2009, Col McCroskey transferred to the WV Wing as the Operations Officer with the Wheeling Composite Squadron.

In March 2010 he was selected to be the Squadron Commander for the Wheeling Composite Squadron. He was named Assistant Operations Officer for WV Wing in June 2013. Col McCroskey was selected to be the WV Vice Wing Commander in in November 2013. After a successful term as the West Virginia Wing Vice Commander, Col. McCroskey was selected to succeed Col. Dennis Barron as the West Virginia Wing Commander on October 25, 2014 during the Wing’s annual conference and banquet.

Col McCroskey is an active pilot with CAP and holds Senior Pilot, Mission Pilot Examiner, Mission Pilot, Check Pilot, Instructor Pilot, Transport Mission Pilot, Mission Observer, and Mission Scanner credentials. He maintains dual positions on the ground as a Ground Team Leader, Urban Direction Finding Team and Ground Team Member 2. Col McCroskey also serves in Mission Staff positions as Air Operations Branch Director and is in upgrade training for Planning Section Chief.

Col McCroskey was awarded the 2013 WV Wing Incident Command Staff Member of the Year award for outstanding duty performance. Additional awards he has earned over the years are two (2) Wing Commander’s Commendation Awards, Paul E. Garber Award, Grover Loening Aerospace Award, Benjamin O. Davis Award, and Brig Gen Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager Achievement Award.

Col McCroskey also brings a wealth of leadership experience with him through his 20-year active duty military career. He enlisted in the Air Force in December 1987 and served as an Aircraft Electrician/Environmental Technician and an Air Traffic Controller. He is a veteran of OPERATIONS DESERT STORM/DESERT SHIELD. In May 1995, Col McCroskey enrolled in the Air Force ROTC at Kent State University, Kent, OH where he graduated in May 1997 as a distinguished graduate. 

Upon graduation, Col McCroskey was assigned to Wright-Patterson AFB, OH as an Acquisition Program Manager where he managed projects for AC-130U Gunship in the Special Operations Forces System Program Office and taught acquisition continuing education at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) School of Systems and Logistics.

In July 2002, Col McCroskey was reassigned to the 705 Exercise Control Squadron (EXS), Distributed Mission Operations Center (DMOC), Kirtland AFB, NM. The DMOC was chiefly responsible for training joint/coalition warfighters through a mixture of live, virtual and constructive applications in support of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. He was the Assistant Operations Officer responsible for all technical and programmatic integration and daily execution for over 110 operations and technical support staff at the DMOC. Under his guidance the DMOC executed 15 theater-level tactical exercises, trained over 5,000 joint warfighters at 24 distributed sites located throughout the United States. During his tenure at DMOC the unit garnered Best M&S Training Program for the Air Force from 2002-2004 and for all the Department of Defense in 2004.

In July 2006, Col McCroskey was reassigned as an Air Force ROTC instructor at Kent State University, Kent, OH. He served as the Commandant of Cadets, Leadership Officer and Unit Admissions Officer. In those capacities he recruited, trained, motivated and counseled highly qualified young men and women as prospective Air Force officers.

Col McCroskey is a veteran of OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM where he served as a Quality Assurance Representative for the Defense Contract Management Agency based out of Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. In this capacity he was responsible for the LOGCAP III contract compliance throughout all forward operating bases disbursed throughout in the country of Kuwait. In January 2010, Col McCroskey retired from the active duty Air Force as a Major after a distinguished 20-year military career.

Col McCroskey is a graduate of the Air Force Squadron Officers School and Air Command and Staff College. He is the recipient of the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal w/cluster, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal (X3), Air Force Achievement Medal, Global War of Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War of Terrorism Service Medal, Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon (w/gold border).

Col McCroskey presently is employed as the Contracts Manager for Leonardo Technologies, Inc. (LTI) in Bannock, OH. LTI is a site support contractor for the Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory in Bethel Park, PA and Morgantown, WV.

Col McCroskey is married to his wife Beth and has three sons: Paul “Grant” III (serving active duty Air Force), Garrett, and Kenton.