MANA — After almost a month getting a feel for his new boots, Capt. Nicholas Mongillo formally accepted the reins of the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility from Capt. Aaron Cudnohufsky on Friday. Mongillo pledged to leave the base
MANA — After almost a month getting a feel for his new boots, Capt. Nicholas Mongillo formally accepted the reins of the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility from Capt. Aaron Cudnohufsky on Friday.
Mongillo pledged to leave the base better than he received it, something every commanding officer including his predecessor, Cudnohufsky, strives for.
Cudnohufsky thanked on-base and off-based communities for their support, especially in environmental and cultural matters.
Mongillo said his priorities mirror Cudnohufsky’s: mission, safety and the environment.
Cudnohufsky has been promoted to commander of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division at Naval Air Station Point Mugu in Ventura County near Port Hueneme and Oxnard, Calif., where he will be in charge of not one but two missile ranges.
Mayor Bernard P. Carvalho Jr., becoming an integral part of the formal change-of-command ceremonies by singing “Hawai‘i Pono‘i,” declared Cudnohufsky an “honorary Kauaian” for the many accomplishments achieved by the commanding officer who assumed command of the Barking Sands base in April 2007.
Cudnohufsky demonstrated sincere care and concern for the land and people of Kaua‘i, overseeing several alternative-energy initiatives that will make PMRF independent of the electrical grid in five years, the mayoral proclamation reads.
The concern for the environment earned him the Chief of Naval Operation Environmental Award for Cultural Resource Management in 2008.
Additionally, Cudnohufsky greatly expanded shoreline access through the PMRF Guest Pass program, and encouraged students of Kaua‘i to excel in math and science through robotics and model rocketry.
During his tenure at PMRF, he executed 15 Missile Defense Agency ballistic-missile-defense tests involving the Navy Aegis program, the Army THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) anti-missile missile program, and coordinated command and control in support of Operation Burnt Frost, resulting in the first successful engagement of a deteriorating satellite in orbit by a standard military missile, in 2008.
Cudnohufsky led the world’s largest multi-national military live-fire training exercise, Rimpac (Rim of the Pacific) 2008, which comprised 34 ships, seven submarines and 150 aircraft from 10 countries.
Kaua‘i County Councilman Derek Kawakami, reading a council certificate to Cudnohufsky, said ever since his arrival on Kaua‘i he has made a tremendous impact on the island, state and nation.
He has strengthened the relationship and partnership with the local community in many areas, especially in regards to the Japanese graveyard that was found on the base, where the oldest marked stone is dated 1859, states the council certificate.
Mongillo comes from the U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he served as a deputy command center director.
The native of Bridgeport, Conn. was with the “Fighting Redcocks” of Strike Fighter Squadron 22 before going to the Northern Command.
In 2004 Mongillo reported to Strike Fighter Squadron 22 as the executive officer, and in 2005 he assumed command of the “Fighting Redcocks” and deployed with Carrier Air Wing 14 onboard the USS Ronald Reagan in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, earning the 2006 Navy and Marine Association 0-5 Leadership Award.
PMRF provides integrated range services in a modern, multi-threat, multi-dimensional environment that ensures the safe execution and evaluation of both training and test and evaluation operations.
PMRF is the only range in the world that can offer simultaneous operations involving subsurface, surface, air and space from the same geographic location, and is described in the council’s certificate as “a command of national importance.”
