428th Fighter Squadron holds change of appointment ceremony Published Dec. 29, 2017 By Airman 1st Class Jeremy D. Wolff 366th Fighter Wing Public Affairs MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho -- The 428th Fighter Squadron held a change of appointment ceremony for the squadron’s command chief here, Dec. 29. The Republic of Singapore Air Force ME-4 Tan Eng Ann, 428th FS command chief, passed command to ME-3 Tan Thiam Chye Gene. The Peace Carvin V program brings U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles and Republic of Singapore Air Force F-15SG’s together, allowing both countries to work and learn along side one another. ME-4 Tan spent the last two years at Mountain Home AFB for his second stint as a command chief, a small piece of his 36 year career which he began as an engine specialist. In his time with the 428th he participated in numerous exercises, including Forging Sabre, Red Flag, and Combat Archer with Peace Carvin II, the 428th’s sister squadron. He also came to Mountain Home before his command chief appointment to help set up the Peace Carvin V program, from April to June 2009. He now returns home where he will serve as the USAF equivalent of a flight chief in the RSAF Air Combat Command quality assurance center at Changi Air Base, Singapore. “I learned a lot from the Gunfighters,” Tan said. “The 428th is supported by a group of contractors, many of them are USAF retired maintainers and chiefs. They have many years of experience and we have a lot to learn from them.” Since the 428th FS was reactivated in 2009, it has built a list of accomplishments from firing the first Foreign Military Sales AIM-9X Sidewinder to its participation in exercises Red Flag Alaska, Maple Flag in Canada and Forging Sabre at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. They became the first F-15SG squadron in the RSAF to employ the GBU 31 joint direct attack munition during Combat Hammer at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. It also produced the first graduates of the Singaporean Fighter Weapons Instructor Course here in 2016. “The thing that makes the 428th unique is the very strong ops and logistics integration between the aircraft maintenance unit and the fighter squadron,” Tan said. “They depend on one another for our daily missions to happen, and that’s the key to mission success.” ME-3 Gene joins the Buccaneers after completing his time as a 707th squadron command chief at Paya Lebar Air Base, Singapore. Like Tan, he also has a history with Mountain Home, as he was part of the group that set up Peace Carvin V from November 2008 to November 2009. “I look forward to strengthening our relationship between the USAF and RSAF, as well as learning the culture and making friends with the community,” Gene said.