When United States Air Force Col. Justin Grieve was in the fourth grade, he saw something at a friend’s house that set him clearly on a path to military service.
“My only dream in life, from about the fourth grade, was to go to the United States Air Force Academy,” Grieve told Columbus Exchange Club members Thursday at Lion Hills Center. “I had a good buddy … who lived right across the street from me. … His dad had gone to the (Air Force) academy and flew F-15s and was still flying F-15Cs with the New Orleans Guard at that time and was flying for American Airlines. I walked into their house, and of course he had fighter pilot swag all over his house and pictures of airplanes on the walls. I remember, very vividly, as a kid going, ‘What is this and how do I do it?’ The only thing I took away from it was he told me, ‘You’ve got to go to the Air Force Academy.’”
That dream was fulfilled in 2000 when he graduated from the Air Force Academy with a degree in management. From there, he set off on a storied 20-plus year career that in July landed him at Columbus Air Force Base as wing commander.
Grieve has trained on the T-37, T-38 and B-2 bomber aircraft.
The road has not been without bumps though, as he shared a harrowing experience he had.
In 2008, Grieve and another pilot had to eject from a B-2 before it crashed. The ejection resulted in a broken back for Grieve, but both pilots survived.
“They put me in this cool turtle shell and told me not to do anything for about three months,” he said. “After I came out of it, they said I was good to go and I remember being very skeptical. … I went home and ran three miles, and I was good to go. They had me back in the airplane that week.”
In addition to serving as both pilot and instructor at numerous bases including Vance AFB in Oklahoma, Whiteman AFB in Missouri and Offutt AFB in Nebraska, he also held a position in the Pentagon as chief bomber aircraft and nuclear programs directorate of legislative liaison for the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force.
CAFB and the community
In his new role as wing commander for the 14th Flying Training Wing at CAFB, Grieve said he wants to continue producing trained pilots at record numbers as the base has done the past two years.
“For the last two years, Columbus has produced more pilots in 35 and 36 years respectively than we ever have at CAFB,” he said. “We have some challenges, but they’re fighting through it every day. Our goal, every day of this year, is to try to produce more pilots than we produced last year.”
The base graduated 448 total graduates in 2021 and 474 in 2022.
He also shared that CAFB will eventually see the T-7 replace the T-38C as the plane used on base. While he said it won’t happen in his tenure as wing commander, he is still excited to see it happen.
“In fact, Columbus is the first base slated to get that airplane for pilot training production, outside of headquarters,” he said.
He said Columbus was a key aspect to this success, and he aims to make the base more open to community members.
He urged the community to reciprocate the sentiment.
“Please, in 2023, look to get engaged with your base,” he said. “We’re going to have, hopefully, a lot of opportunities for you to come out. … You’re always welcome. Contact me, contact the public affairs team. Let us know. We want you to come out and meet these amazing young men and women that are achieving their life goal in some cases. It’s pretty special.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
