Joseph Ralston

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Joseph W. Ralston

General Joseph W. Ralston
Allegiance U.S. Air Force
Years of service 1965-2003
Rank General
Commands Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Awards Legion of Merit (3)
Distinguished Flying Cross (4)
Air Medal (20)
Other work Board of Directors, URS Corporation

Joseph W. Ralston was a general of the United States Air Force.

Contents

[edit] Career

Ralston served as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1996 to 2000. In 1997, at the retirement of John M. Shalikashvili, the then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Ralston was the top candidate to succeed him but he withdrew his name from consideration when it became public that he had an adulterous affair with a CIA employee during the 1980s while he and his wife were separated. The job eventually went to Hugh Shelton and Ralston remained Vice Chairman until 2000, when he was appointed Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, in which function he served from 2000 to 2003, taking over from U.S. Army general Wesley Clark. In this capacity, he was the highest-ranking officer in NATO. He retired on March 1, 2003.

In September 2006, he was assigned as Special Envoy for Countering the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) by President Bush.[1] The PKK is a Kurdish separatist group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Turkey and the European Union.

He also is a member of the Board of Directors for URS Corporation of San Francisco. Ralston is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

[edit] Education

[edit] Military statistics

[edit] Assignments

  • July 1965 - August 1966, student, pilot training, Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas
  • August 1966 - April 1967, student, F-105 combat crew training school, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada
  • April 1967 - October 1969, F-105 combat crew member, 67th Tactical Fighter Squadron, later 12th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Japan
  • October 1969 - December 1969, student, F-105 Wild Weasel pilot training, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada
  • January 1970 - October 1970, F-105 Wild Weasel pilot, 354th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand
  • October 1970 - December 1971, F-105 Wild Weasel instructor pilot, 66th Fighter Weapons Squadron, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada
  • December 1971 - June 1973, Fighter Requirements Officer and Project Officer for F-15 and lightweight fighter programs, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Requirements, Headquarters Tactical Air Command, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia
  • June 1973 - June 1975, Assistant Operations Officer, 335th Tactical Fighter Squadron, then Chief, Standardization and Evaluation Division, 4th Tactical Fighter Wing, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina
  • June 1975 - June 1976, student, Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
  • June 1976 - July 1979, Tactical Fighter Requirements Officer, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research and Development, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
  • July 1979 - July 1980, Operations Officer, later, Commander, 68th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Moody Air Force Base, Georgia
  • July 1980 - August 1983, Special Assistant, later, Executive Officer to the commander, Headquarters Tactical Air Command, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia
  • August 1983 - June 1984, student, National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.
  • June 1984 - February 1986, Special Assistant for low observables technology, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development and Acquisition, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
  • February 1986 - March 1987, Commander, 56th Tactical Training Wing, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida
  • March 1987 - June 1990, Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, later, Deputy Chief of Staff for Requirements, Headquarters Tactical Air Command, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia
  • June 1990 - December 1991, Director of Tactical Programs, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Washington, D.C.
  • December 1991 - July 1992, Director of Operational Requirements, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
  • July 1992 - July 1994, Commander, Alaskan Command, Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region, 11th Air Force and Joint Task Force Alaska, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska
  • July 1994 - June 1995, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
  • June 1995 - February 1996, Commander, Headquarters Air Combat Command, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia
  • March 1996 - April 2000, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C.
  • May 2000 - 2003, Commander, U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, NATO, Mons, Belgium

[edit] Flight information

  • Rating: Command pilot
  • Flight hours: More than 2,500
  • Aircraft flown: F-105D/F/G, F-4C/D/E, F-16A and F-15A/C

[edit] Major awards and decorations

Other unit awards and foreign decorations include:

[edit] Effective dates of promotion

  • Second Lieutenant Jul 24, 1965
  • First Lieutenant Jan 24, 1967
  • Captain Jul 24, 1968
  • Major Dec 1, 1973
  • Lieutenant Colonel Apr 1, 1978
  • Colonel Jun 1, 1981
  • Brigadier General Mar 1, 1988
  • Major General Aug 1, 1990
  • Lieutenant General Jul 13, 1992
  • General Jul 1, 1995

[edit] Reference

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Adm. William Owens		 Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
1996—2000		 Succeeded by
Gen. Richard B. Myers
Preceded by
Gen. Wesley Clark		 Supreme Allied Commander Europe (NATO)
2000—2003		 Succeeded by
Gen. James L. Jones
Vice Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States JCS Logo
Herres | Jeremiah | Owens | Ralston | Myers | Pace | Giambastiani
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