New vice commander on board

  • Published
  • By Janae Daniels
  • AEDC/PA
Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. --  Arnold Engineering Development Center's (AEDC) new vice commander reported for duty Feb. 26. 

Navy Capt. Robert "Bob" Roof succeeds Navy Capt. Christopher Flood who left AEDC in July 2006 for Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Md., as the chief of staff for the Navy's Program Executive Office for Tactical Aircraft Programs. 

Captain Roof comes to AEDC with more than 20 years of military service with both acquisition and operational experience. Prior to coming to AEDC, Captain Roof was the deputy project manager for the weapon systems integration for the V-22 Osprey program at Patuxent River. 

He managed a diverse 300-person team of contractors, DoD civilians and multi-service military personnel conducting program risk management and process integration across joint service product teams. 

"This assignment is a welcome change," he said. "Which is great because you don't need to live your whole life on high stress. Everyone here seems like professional, calm, collected and not in panic mode, unlike when I was at the Pentagon where it is so fast paced." 

While only being on base a few days, AEDC's uniqueness has stood out, he said. 

"This place is huge, and I was unaware of all the different types of testing done here," he said. "I was amazed at the amount of contractors and how transparent they are. You just assume they are DoD civilians, like everywhere else I have been, but they are all contractors and professionals at that." 

Captain Roof's main goal as vice commander is to support Col. Art Huber to the best of his ability, he said. 

"I am here to learn," he said. "I'm here to learn the Air Force language, test and evaluation language and to learn about Arnold. I don't have any incoming initiatives except to just support Col. Huber the best that I can." 

Captain Roof has a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a master's in finance from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. He is level III certified in the field of program management and in systems, planning, research, development and engineering from the online Defense Acquisition University.