Lt Col Jessica J Hegewald is the Medical Group Commander at the 140th Medical Group, 140th Wing, Colorado Air National Guard at Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado. She provides command, leadership, and direction to 120 full-time and traditional military and civilian medical personnel and is responsible for the medical readiness of over 1600 Airmen.
Lt Col Hegewald entered the Air National Guard a year after graduation from Pacific University, College of Optometry in May 2009, joining the 140th Medical Group at Buckley AFB, CO. She served the 140th, filling the optometry position that had been vacant for the previous 5 years. She had to re-establish several Aerospace programs, including the Soft Contact lens program and the Refractive Surgery program. With her medical experience, she was assigned an additional duty with the CERFP team as the OIC of the Hot Zone Triage. During her tenure with CERFP, they received national recognition for having the fastest set-up time and consistently received an Excellent rating during the Ex-Evals and Vigilant Guard. Lt Col Hegewald was also utilized for several humanitarian missions, including the Hawaii Tropicare IRT in 2010, PACAF Pacific Angel Mongolia in 2014, Kentucky Bluegrass IRT in 2016, and African Lion HAS in Morocco in 2017. Each of these missions provided millions of dollars of vision, medical, and dental services to the local communities. In 2017, Lt Col Hegewald deployed on a State assist with the medical element of the CERFP team to Hurricane Harvey to provide aid to the local hospitals.
In the Colorado Air National Guard, Lt Col Hegewald has served in the roles of OIC of Optometry, OIC of Lab and immunizations, Chief of Optometry, PHA Flight Commander, and most recently as Medical Support Services Squadron Commander, before she took over command of the Medical Group. She has been utilized in several leadership roles, taking on the role of key planner for the unit’s lead in an IRT in Upstate New York, organizing and planning a 400+ multi-service mission providing no cost health care for ten days to local communities. She has also been utilized at the Joint Forces level as an External LNO for the Joint Force Headquarters and recently as an Air Planner assisting the A3 and the J3 in the State of Colorado’s response to COVID-19 and as a liaison between the J3 and the Joint Medical Planning Group for COVID Response.
EDUCATION:
Bachelor of Business Administration with Human Resource Emphasis, Idaho State University, 2003
Doctor of Optometry, Pacific University College of Optometry, 2008
Reserved Commissioned Officer Training, 2009
Squadron Officer School, remote learning, 2010
Air Command Staff College, remote learning, 2017
ASSIGNMENTS
1. May 2009 – August 2012, OIC of Optometry, 140th Medical Group, Buckley AFB, CO.
2. August 2012 – November 2015, OIC of Lab and Immunizations, 140th Medical Group, Buckley AFB, CO.
3. November 2015 – August 2018, Chief of Optometry, 140th Medical Group, Buckley AFB, CO.
4. August 2018 – June 2020, PHA Flight Commander, 140th Medical Support Squadron, Buckley AFB, CO
5. June 2020 – June 2023, Squadron Commander, 140th Medical Support Squadron, Buckley AFB, CO.
6. June 2023—Will assume Command of the 140th Medical Group, Buckley SFB, CO
AWARDS AND DECORATIONS:
Air Force Achievement Medal, 3 devices
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, 1 device
National Defense Services Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Humanitarian Service Medal
AF Longevity Service, 1 device
AF Training Ribbon
Colorado Commendation Ribbon
Colorado Foreign Deployment Ribbon, 1 device
Colorado Emergency Services Ribbon, 2 devices
Colorado Longevity of Service
EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION:
Captain – May 2009
Major – March 2015
Lieutenant Colonel – August 2021