Carriere native takes command of CRTC in Gulfport

Lieutenant Colonel Berry L. McCormick is the new commander of the Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC) in Gulfport, Mississippi. McCormick enlisted in the Mississippi Air National Guard in 1988 as a Search Scope Operator with the 255th Tactical Control Squadron, in Gulfport, Miss. After graduating from Mississippi State University with a degree in electrical engineering, he was commissioned through the Academy of Military Science at McGhee-Tyson Air National Guard Base, Tennessee.

(Photo courtesy of USAF/CRTC)

McCormick served as a Weapons Director and Air Surveillance Officer Instructor/Evaluator with the 255th Air Control Squadron in Gulfport. He deployed various times including to South America in support of counterdrug operations, to Kuwait in support of Operation SOUTHERN WATCH, and to seven locations in the continental United States as part of Operation NOBLE EAGLE. In May 2005, he assumed command of the 209th Civil Engineer Squadron based in Gulfport. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2008 to serve in Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.

In November 2010, he transferred to the 253rd Air Support Squadron, Meridian, Miss. where he served as the A7 Director. In June 2012, he returned to Gulfport to become commander of the 255th ACS. The next year he deployed to the United Arab Emirates as commander of the 727th Expeditionary Air Control Squadron. McCormick transferred to the CRTC in September 2014 as the Director of Support and remained in that position until taking command of the CRTC in July of this year.

“What we do here at CRTC is very unique. Of the three Air National Guard units located here, the other two are operational units,” McCormick shared. ”Their job is to prepare the airmen assigned to