General Charles Q. Brown, Jr.
Air Force Chief of Staff
Charles Quinton Brown, Jr., was born in 1962 in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from Texas Tech University in Lubbock with an undergraduate degree in civil engineering, where he was part of the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps. At his graduation, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He went on to earn a master’s degree in aeronautical science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Brown served in a variety of positions at squadron and wing levels, including an assignment to the U.S. Air Force Weapons School as an F-16 instructor. His staff tours include aide-de-camp to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, director, Secretary of the Air Force, and chief of staff executive action group, and deputy director operations at U.S. Central Command.
He held other commands, including an F-16 fighter squadron. He commanded the Pacific Air Forces. He was nominated to be Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force by President Donald Trump, was confirmed by the Senate, and assumed his position in June 2020.
General Brown is a command pilot with more than 2,900 flying hours, including 130 combat hours. He flew both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft.
In the News…
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has altered the security situation in Europe, and the U.S. will have to adjust its long-term military posture as a result.
Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Q. Brown said that the Ukraine war has not appreciably changed the service’s assessment of forces needed for the European theater, as the USAF has been contemplating the European situation since it began, withdrawing forces from the Middle East over the last couple of years.
The invasion was predicted by intelligence last fall and has largely been accounted for in the fiscal 2023 budget, General Brown said. Still, USAF has moved additional fighters, tankers, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft into the European theater over the past few months, as well as bombers on a rotational basis, all to reassure NATO allies who feel threatened by the invasion of Ukraine.
