Video: New Commander for Navy's Helicopter Sea Combat Wing Pacific

One captain has traded places with another as commander of Helicopter Sea Combat Wing Pacific at North Island Naval Air Station.

Capt. Shoshana Chatfield was relieved by Capt. Jack Schuller, who were part of a base ceremony Thursday honoring both as they prepare to shift roles in the Navy.

NASA Astronaut and Navy , also was part of the ceremony. She returned from a trip aboard the International Space Station in November, and yet found herself quite pleased with her Earth-bound surroundings.

“You guys live in a really nice place, you know that?” she said of Coronado, with San Diego Bay laid out behind her. 

The command oversees a Fleet Replacement Squadron, 11 Anti-Submarine and Sea Combat squadrons and a Weapons and Tactics School; the units, which include 4,000 personnel, are at three bases – North Island, Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan and Anderson Air Force Base, Guam.

Chatfield, who took over in August 2011, oversaw the changeover in several squadrons from the SH-60F Seahawk to the MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter and the launch of the first unmanned rotary squadron, HUQ-1.

Schuller, who served as Deputy Commodore under Chatfield, has been a Naval Aviator for 22 years, and was part of two deployments, including the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Schuller honored the pilots and personnel who serve HSCWP, calling them “what we are here to celebrate,” since they live “on the edge of danger so the rest of us don't have to think about, let alone experience danger.”