Press release by Bradley Hicks
While growing up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Col. Jack Rhodes saw his future whenever he stepped outside.
He had a view of the U.S. Air Force Academy from his home. Inspired by his father’s military service, he aspired to attend the nearby institution.
Rhodes soon achieved this goal, and his Air Force career has since taken him from one seaboard to the other with assignments in the Southeast, American West, Mid-Atlantic, Pacific Coast, and New England.
His service has now brought him to Tennessee.
Members of his family and colleagues looked on as Rhodes assumed command of the 804th Test Group (804 TG) during a July 11, 2025, Change of Command ceremony at the University of Tennessee Space Institute near Arnold Air Force Base, headquarters of Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC).
“I am honored to be able to join this team,” Rhodes said, addressing the team members now in his charge after accepting the guidon to take command of the 804 TG. “I am also honored and humbled to come back to the test community after many years in the program management community. But I am reminded today with all of you, it’s not solely our proximity, whether that be time or distance, to a battle that dictates your value to the fight, whether that be time or distance.
“What we will do each and every day is going to help deliver what our nation needs to deter or defeat adversaries. Our nation is better because of each and every one of you.”
The 804 TG is a division of AEDC and employs approximately 2,000 people throughout the country. The group supports and executes ground and flight test activities, and develops, sustains, and operates more than 30 test facilities across locations in multiple states, including Tennessee, California, Maryland, Florida, Utah, and Colorado.
A remotely piloted aircraft pilot and an air battle manager with hundreds of hours in support of multiple U.S. military operations, the new 804 TG commander brings more than 22 years of active-duty experience to his latest assignment at AEDC.
Rhodes said in his speech that, to help familiarize himself with AEDC and its history as much as possible ahead of the change of command, he recently read the book “Hap Arnold: The General Who Invented the U.S. Air Force” by Bill Yenne.
Several items stood out to Rhodes as he read. Among them was that in the early days of flight test in open-cockpit planes, one pilot nearly suffered a mishap when an insect struck him mid-air in one of his uncovered eyes. As Rhodes noted, many measures and precautions that go on to become common knowledge are often first learned through trial and test. That, he added, is why the work performed across AEDC is essential.
“Test is about discovery,” Rhodes said. “Test is about exploring the envelope, maybe even some boundaries. And something as simple as the need for goggles shows the importance of test and why we do what we do.
“That hasn’t changed from that time with (Gen.) Arnold until now. The worst place for a discovery is in the field, and you all help make that discovery happen every day so that the warfighter does not.”
A native of Fort Gordon, Georgia, and the son of a man who worked at what is now Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, Rhodes earned his commission and a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Academy in 2003. Rhodes later received Master of Science degrees in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and in flight test engineering from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in California.
Rhodes earned a Master of Strategic Studies from Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, and a Master of Biblical and Theological Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas.
Rhodes completed Undergraduate Air Battle Manager Training at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, in early 2005 and shortly thereafter began serving as an E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System air battle manager at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, a role he held through October 2009. During that time, he accumulated over 730 combat hours supporting Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
Rhodes then cross-trained as a Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) pilot and flew over 700 sorties totaling more than 1,700 combat hours across three theaters.
In his book, Yenne shares Arnold’s thoughts on unmanned aircraft and his proposed “experiment” to create unmanned aircraft pilots out of airmen who had not previously flown planes.
Rhodes referred to Arnold as a “visionary,” as years later, Rhodes himself was part of this experiment. He added that those at AEDC will continue to follow Arnold’s lead.
“We’re going to be continuing to explore the unknown or things that aren’t necessarily normal,” Rhodes said. “We’re going to continue looking at things that are new. You all are doing visionary engineering, and I am excited to join you in the journey.”
Rhodes was selected for the Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, where he attended from June 2013 to his graduation in June of the following year. He was then assigned as an experimental test pilot for RPA to conduct developmental testing for the Air Force. In June 2017, Rhodes began serving as a deputy program manager in the GPS Directorate at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California
From June 2019 to June 2022, Rhodes served as an acquisition program manager within Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence and Networks Directorate at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. He then attended Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base from July 2022 to May 2023.
Prior to taking command of the 804 TG, Rhodes served as chief of V-22 Air Force programs in the V-22 Joint Program Office at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. There, he led 200 joint personnel spanning 10 teams to integrate major defense acquisition program activities in the development, fielding, and sustainment of the CV-22 Osprey fleet supporting U.S. Special Operations Command.
Among his awards and decorations, Rhodes has received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Aerial Achievement Medal with 14 oak leaf clusters, and Air Force Commendation Medal.
To close his speech, Rhodes said his predecessor used words such as outstanding, brilliant, superb, and fantastic to describe the 804 TG. He reiterated his eagerness to serve alongside the team.
“This mission is going to keep going,” Rhodes said. “It is going to keep accomplishing things with equipment you refer to as ‘national assets’ — one-of-a-kind, world-class facilities. But what I want to say is this: It’s really the people, you, the 804th, and all of the support organizations, that help execute this important mission. You are a national treasure.” GN
