Lieutenant General Kevin Schneider, USAF
Commander, U.S. Forces Japan
Kevin Bruce Schneider was raised in Springfield, Virginia. He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a degree in engineering science. He attended Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training in Wichita Falls, Texas, then attended F-16 Fighting Falcon training at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. He graduated from the USAF Weapons School, and became a weapons school instructor at Nellis Air Force Base.
Schneider served as chief of the 52nd Fighter Wing Weapons and Tactics in Germany and as Deputy Commander of the 56th Operations Group in South Korea. He was Vice Commander of the 388th Fighter Wing and later the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing in the United Arab Emirates.
He served as the Chief of Staff of the Pacific Air Forces and Indo-Pacific Command Headquarters in Hawaii. He assumed command of Fifth Air Force and U.S. Forces, Japan, in February 2019.
The general is a command pilot with more than 3,800 flight hours in the F-16, F-15E and T-38, including 530 combat hours flown during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
In the News…
China is using the coronavirus as a cover to push territorial claims in the South China Sea through a surge in naval activity meant to intimidate other countries that claim the waters, the Commander of U.S. Forces in Japan, Lieutenant General Kevin Schneider, reported.
The South China Sea has seen navy ships, coast guard vessels, and a naval militia of fishing boats harassing vessels in waters claimed by Beijing, the general said. He said Beijing had also increased its activity in the East China Sea, where it has a territorial dispute with Japan.
Beijing’s increased level of activity would likely continue, predicted Schneider. “I don’t see troughs, I see plateaus,” he said.
