Great Bend native Cade Keenan has been named commander of the 139th Operations Support Squadron, 139th Airlift Wing, Missouri Air National Guard in St. Joseph, Mo. He will be responsible for organizing, training and equipping of the 46 full-time instructor pilots, navigators, flight engineers, loadmasters and support staff of one of two flying squadrons of the 139th Airlift Wing.
Born and raised in Great Bend, Lt. Col. Keenan graduated from Kansas State University before being selected to attend USAF pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas. Shortly after training, he deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom to Karshi-Khanabad Airbase, Uzbekistan and continued regular deployments, 10 and counting, across southwest Asia between 2003 and 2020. In his civilian career, he worked as a process improvement engineer at Hallmark Cards in Lawrence until 2012.
Following instructor pilot upgrade training, he began work at the Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center (AATTC), also in St. Joseph as a tactics instructor pilot. In that role, Colonel Keenan instructed aircrews from across the USAF, USMC, and 10 partner countries on combat tactics for C-130, C-17, C-160, and C-235 aircraft.
As a subject matter expert in infrared weapons and defensive systems, he provided advanced instruction in the tactics, techniques, and procedures to degrade and defeat these threats to mobility aircraft. Following his time at AATTC, he served a one-year assignment to Germany. During this accompanied tour, Colonel Keenan served as Future Operations Planner, Operations and Plans Division, Directorate of Operations at Headquarters, United States Air Forces in Europe, Ramstein Air Base, Germany. There, he managed the allied military-to-military engagements of two separate F-22 fighter aircraft deployments to the European theater.
Colonel Keenan is a Command Pilot with 4,764 hours in military aircraft, 852 of which are in combat. He is a graduate of the USAF Advanced Instrument and USAF Weapons schools. He holds a certificate in Electo-Optical and Infrared Applications from the Georgia Tech Research Institute, a Master of Business Administration from Colorado State University and Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from K-State. As a traditional part-time member of the Air National Guard, Keenan works full-time at United Airlines as first officer on the Boeing 737 at Denver International Airport.
He resides in Kansas City, Mo., and is married to the former Sara Reser of Ellinwood. They have two children, Sam and Annie. He is the son of Dortha and the late Pat Keenan, formerly of Great Bend.
