CO retires tomorrow after 27 years service

Dobson assumed command of NAS Jacksonville in May 2004. During his 27 years in the Navy, Dobson has seen the world and worked in a variety of different jobs.

"I can honestly say, I've never had a bad tour in the Navy. Some were more exciting and more enjoyable than others. I did two tours in Washington, D.C., and worked in the Pentagon during each of them. While it was not like being in a squadron and flying, it was rewarding and I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge working there," remarked Dobson.

"But, I think my two most memorable tours are my first squadron tour in HS-11 because that's really what it's all about - being at sea and flying from an aircraft carrier. It was a great squadron, I learned a tremendous amount about being a naval officer and a naval aviator and I made lifelong friends," he continued.

"I would also say that this tour has been a great and rewarding assignment. This is the job that I wanted at this point in my career. When I left the CO position of HS-3 in 1999, I decided I wanted to be CO of NAS Jax and was lucky enough to get this job. That's what I set my sights on and it completely eclipsed any of my expectations," said Dobson.

"NAS Jax is poised and the people here have been preparing it to become a premier installation for the 21st Century. We are building two new hangars, there is new growth coming in and the base will soon see the new P-8 aircraft and H-60 Romeo helicopters," Dobson stated. "The engineering operations center to support the growth at Naval Facility Southeast is under construction. We will open the new youth center and a new facility to support the surface rescue swimmer school in a few months. Our Navy family housing will transition to a public-private venture Oct. 1."

"We are also making upgrades to Hangar 1000 to make it a better place to work," Dobson added. "We have demolished a lot of old buildings and converted others to new and better uses. We built a new golf clubhouse and rebuilt much of the base marina. This has been our theme of the past three years. We've been working these issues, setting things up and getting prepared for all this."

"However not all of our efforts have been focused on future building and new missions," Dobson said.