Ronald Fogleman

Air Force career

A 1963 graduate from the United States Air Force Academy, he holds a master's degree in military history and political science from Duke University. A command pilot and a parachutist, he amassed more than 6,800 flying hours in fighter, transport, tanker and rotary wing aircraft. He flew 315 combat missions and logged 806 hours of combat flying in fighter aircraft. 80 of his missions were as a "Misty FAC" in the F-100F Super Sabre at Phù Cát Air Base between 25 December 1968 and 23 April 1969.

Fogleman was shot down in Vietnam in 1968, while piloting a F-100. He was rescued by clinging to an AH-1 Cobra helicopter that landed at the crash site.

In early assignments he instructed student pilots, performed combat duty as a fighter pilot and high-speed forward air controller in Vietnam and Thailand, taught history at the Air Force Academy and conducted flight operations in Europe—including duty as an F-15 Eagle aircraft demonstration pilot for international airshows. He commanded an Air Force wing, an air division, a numbered air force, a major command and a unified command.

Fogleman was the first graduate of the United States Air Force Academy to advance to Chief of Staff of the Air Force. During his tenure, he introduced a simplified code of conduct for Airmen, which remains in use today. Called the "Air Force Core Values", the code demands "Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do."

General Fogleman retired on September 1, 1997.

Bosnian War Controversy in June 1995

During the Bosnian War NATO Forces were establishing a no-fly-zone. On 2 June two patrolling US F-16 aircraft of that operation came under attack by a Serbian SA-6 surface-to-air missile launch system. One plane was consequently hit and the pilot, Scott O'Grady ejected. Minutes after the landing, Serbian forces were closing in on his position, but he managed to escape and radioed for help on the 4th day, transmitting intermittent to lessen the chance of detection. These radio calls were picked up by US Forces.

General Ronald Fogleman, at the time Air Force Chief of Staff told press reporters during a promotion ceremony that "intermittent" transmissions were picked up. An "enraged" NATO official described this with "I was dumbfounded he said that" and "I mean, why not just announce to the bad guys, 'We think he's alive and kicking, and we hope we find him before you do'?" according to information published in the TIME magazine.

However this 'leak' did not thwart a US Marine rescue operation involving several aircraft and helicopters that was launched later. Although the rescue forces came under small arms fire and missiles were fired by shoulder-held surface-to-air launchers on the way back, O'Grady was successfully extracted.

Post-Air Force career

He currently has a seat on the Boards of Directors of Alliant Techsystems, AAR Corporation, Mesa Air Group, Inc., Tactical Air Support, Inc., World Air Holdings, Inc., and the Tauriga Sciences Inc.'s Business Advisory Board He is also on the board of advisors of the Code of Support Foundation, a nonprofit military services organization.

On November 11, 2009, General Fogleman was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors at Alliant Techsystems Inc., following the retirement of ATK Chairman and CEO Dan Murphy.

As a Boeing consultant, Fogleman said that the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II will not be a combat proven aircraft until it receives the Block 3F software in the early 2020s.