WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — The Air Force Materiel Command, which oversees Wright-Patterson and nine other Air Force bases, gets a new commander this Friday, Nov. 21.

Gen. Bruce Carlson, who is retiring from the Air Force at the end of 2008 to end a 37-year career, steps down as AFMC commander during a change-of-command ceremony at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. He passes the job to Lt. Gen. Donald J. Hoffman, currently a three-star officer who has been serving as military deputy in the office of the assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition at the Pentagon.

Hoffman becomes a four-star general Friday as he takes over as leader of the AFMC.

The AFMC is one of the Air Force's nine major commands. Its nearly 74,000 people manage $56 billion annually in research, development, testing and evaluation, and provide acquisition management and logistics support to develop, procure and sustain Air Force weapon systems.

Hoffman will become the sixth AFMC commander since the Air Force created it as a major command on July 1, 1992. Carlson has headed the AFMC since August 2005.