WCS Grad Named Colonel
- The Waterville Times
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read

Erin Dorrance, formerly Erin Blanchard, was recently promoted to the rank of full Colonel during a ceremony at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.
Dorrance is the daughter of Charlotte Blanchard and the late Craig Blanchard of Hubbardsville, Dorrance, a native of Oriskany Falls, is a 1997 graduate of Waterville High School.
Following graduation, she spent a year as a Rotary Foreign Exchange Student in Costa Rica, where she wrote a monthly column for the Waterville Times titled “Pura Vida in Costa Rica.”
Upon returning to the United States, Dorrance earned her degree from the University of New Mexico with a double major in Communications and Spanish, and was commissioned as an Air Force Public Affairs Officer in 2002.
She earned a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Troy University in 2005.
Dorrance served 10 years on active duty and continues to serve as a member of the Air Force Reserves.
In her civilian capacity, she works as a Department of War civilian at U.S. Central Command, also at MacDill Air Force Base.
Her distinguished military career includes a variety of assignments both in the United States and abroad:
*Public Affairs Deputy Chief, 6th Air Refueling Wing, MacDill AFB, Fla.
*Public Affairs Chief, 86th Airlift Wing, Ramstein AB, Germany
*Public Affairs Individual Mobilization Augmentee to the Chief of Public Affairs Plans, Air Combat Command, Langley AFB, Va.
*IMA to the Chief of Public Affairs, Patrick Space Force Base, Fla.
*Military Deputy Chief of Congressional Affairs, U.S. Southern Command, Fla. *Public Affairs Chief of Media, U.S. Special Operations Command, Fla.
*IMA to Space Strategies/Analysis Division Chief, Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
*Currently, IMA to the Chief of Public Affairs, U.S. Forces Japan, Yokota Air Base, Japan.



Comments