By John Milliman, H-1 Program Public Affairs

NAVAIR PATUXENT RIVER, MD – Colonel Keith Birkholz will assume the leadership of the Marine Corps’ light and attack helicopter program here in a change of command ceremony scheduled for 11 am Friday in Hangar 109.

After serving on the Deputy Commandant for Aviation staff at Marine Corps headquarters as the head of Aviation Weapons Systems Requirements (APW-1), Birkholz succeeds Col. Douglas Isleib as program manager of PMA-276.

Isleib is retiring after 28 years as a Marine Corps Huey pilot, Presidential Helicopter pilot for President Ronald Reagan, the first operational test pilot for the V-22 and program manager for both the KC-130J and H-1 programs.

A Chicago native and prior enlisted Marine rifleman, Birkholz is returning for his third NAVAIR tour. Previous assignments here included serving as the deputy program manager for Marine Weapons Programs in PMA-242, where he managed the TOW, Hellfire, Sidearm and Maverick missiles, aviation gun ammunition and rockets, parachute flare and maritime flare programs.

His last NAVAIR tour was in PMA-276 from 1998-2002 when he was the AH-1W Super Cobra team leader and then the deputy program manager for the UH-1Y and AH-1Z helicopters.

Birkholz started his Marine Corps career at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, CA. After graduating from Boot Camp in 1976, he spent four years in the infantry with Hotel Co., 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, attaining the rank of Sergeant.

Following commissioning as a second lieutenant and graduation from The Basic School in 1980, Birkholz attended flight school and qualified in the AH-1J Cobra helicopter. He has flown Cobras operationally with HMA-369, HML-267 and deployed with HMLA-169 to the Persian Gulf for operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991. He also served an instructor tour with Training Squadron Two, teaching aspiring naval aviators to fly the T-43C Turbo Mentor.

Birkholz’ Marine Corps staff tours include serving as the air officer for the First Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, assistant chief of staff for Safety and Standardization for the First Marine Aircraft Wing, in Okinawa, Japan.

Following promotion to his current rank in January, 2003, Birkholz served at the Pentagon on the deputy chief of naval operations (Resources, Warfare Requirements and Assessments) staff as the head of the Expeditionary Aviation Section, N780B, in the Air Warfare Directorate, N78, and as the USMC Aviation Liaison, Aviation Plans and Requirements, Air Warfare Division, N780M.

The Colonel received a BA in Business Administration from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisc. (1980) and an MS in Military Studies from the Marine Corps University, Quantico, Virginia (1994). Additionally, he is a graduate of the Marine Corps' Command and Staff College and the Defense Systems Management College’s Program Management Course (1994).

His personal decorations include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon.

Colonel Birkholz and his wife, Kathy (a retired Navy CH-46 pilot), live in Leonardtown and have two children, Jared and Rebecca.