Norton A. Schwartz

Norton Allan Schwartz (born December 14, 1951) is a retired United States Air Force general who served as the 19th Chief of Staff of the Air Force. He previously served as Commander, United States Transportation Command from September 2005 to August 2008. As Chief of Staff, he served as the senior uniformed Air Force officer responsible for the organization, training and equipping of nearly 700,000 active-duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian forces serving in the United States and overseas. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the general and other service chiefs function as military advisers to the Secretary of Defense, National Security Council and the President. He Became Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force August 12, 2008.

General Schwartz graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1973. He is an alumnus of the National War College, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a 1994 Fellow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Seminar XXI. He has served as Commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command-Pacific, as well as Alaskan Command, Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and the 11th Air Force.

General Schwartz is a command pilot with more than 4,400 flying hours in a variety of aircraft. He participated as a crewmember in the 1975 airlift evacuation of Saigon, and in 1991 served as Chief of Staff of the Joint Special Operations Task Force for Northern Iraq in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. In 1997, he led the Joint Task Force that prepared for the noncombatant evacuation of U.S. citizens in Cambodia.

General Schwartz is the first Air Force Chief of Staff not to have a background as a fighter or bomber pilot, and it is speculated that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates picked him for that reason.

Background
Schwartz grew up in Toms River, New Jersey, the son of a typewriter salesman. The first Jewish Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Schwartz was a member of the U.S. Air Force Academy Jewish choir before his 1973 graduation. In 2004 General Schwartz was awarded the Jewish Community Center's Military Leadership Award. In accepting the award, General Schwartz said he was "proud to be identified as Jewish as well as an American military leader."

Education

 * 1973 Bachelor of Science degree in political science and international affairs, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado
 * 1977 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
 * 1983 Master of Business Administration degree, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan
 * 1984 Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia
 * 1989 National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.
 * 1994 Fellow, Seminar XXI, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Assignments

 * 1) August 1973 – September 1974, student, undergraduate pilot training, Laughlin AFB, Texas
 * 2) October 1974 – January 1975, student, C-130 initial qualification training, Little Rock AFB, Arkansas
 * 3) February 1975 – October 1977, C-130E aircraft commander, 776th and 21st Tactical Airlift Squadrons, Clark Air Base, Philippines
 * 4) October 1977 – December 1977, student, Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
 * 5) December 1977 – October 1979, C-130E/H flight examiner, 61st Tactical Airlift Squadron, Little Rock AFB, Arkansas
 * 6) October 1979 – November 1980, intern, Air Staff Training Program, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans, Operations and Readiness, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
 * 7) November 1980 – July 1983, MC-130E flight examiner, 8th Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida
 * 8) July 1983 – January 1984, student, Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia
 * 9) January 1984 – April 1986, action officer, Directorate of Plans, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
 * 10) May 1986 – June 1988, Commander, 36th Tactical Airlift Squadron, McChord AFB, Washington
 * 11) August 1988 – June 1989, student, National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.
 * 12) July 1989 – July 1991, Director of Plans and Policy, Special Operations Command Europe, Patch Barracks, Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany
 * 13) August 1991 – May 1993, Deputy Commander for Operations and Commander, 1st Special Operations Group, Hurlburt Field, Florida
 * 14) May 1993 – May 1995, Deputy Director of Operations, later, Deputy Director of Forces, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
 * 15) June 1995 – May 1997, Commander, 16th Special Operations Wing, Hurlburt Field, Florida
 * 16) June 1997 – October 1998, Commander, Special Operations Command, Pacific, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii
 * 17) October 1998 – January 2000, Director of Strategic Planning, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
 * 18) January 2000 – September 2000, Deputy Commander in Chief, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, Florida
 * 19) September 2000 – October 2002, Commander, Alaskan Command, Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and 11th Air Force, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.
 * 20) October 2002 – October 2004, Director for Operations, the Joint Staff, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
 * 21) October 2004 – August 2005, Director, the Joint Staff, Pentagon, Washington, D. C.
 * 22) September 2005 – September 2008, Commander, U.S. Transportation Command, Scott AFB, Illinois
 * 23) August 2008 – August 2012, Chief of Staff, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.

Flight information

 * Rating: command pilot.
 * Flight hours: more than 4,400.
 * Aircraft flown: C-130E/H, MC-130E/H/P, HC-130, AC-130H/U, YMC-130, MH-53 and MH-60.