Lance L. Smith

Lance L. Smith

General Lance L. Smith
Born (1946-09-18) September 18, 1946
Akron, Ohio
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Air Force
Years of service 1970-2008
Rank General
Commands held U.S. Joint Forces Command
NATO Supreme Allied Command for Transformation
7th Air Force
Air Force Doctrine Center
4th Fighter Wing
27th Fighter Wing
Battles/wars Vietnam War
Awards Defense Distinguished Service Medal (3)
Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Star (3)
Legion of Merit (2)
Distinguished Flying Cross (3)
Purple Heart
Air Medal (10)

United States Air Force General Lance L. Smith (born September 18, 1946)[1] served as the Commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command, Norfolk, Virginia, and NATO Supreme Allied Commander for Transformation from November 10, 2005 to November 9, 2007. A highly decorated combat veteran, the general retired from active duty on January 1, 2008.

Gen Smith entered the United States Air Force in 1970 after graduating from Virginia Tech and completing Officer Training School. He served two tours at The Pentagon and was Commandant of the NATO School at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Commandant of Air War College, and Vice Commander of Air University. He commanded two fighter wings and led two air expeditionary force deployments to Southwest Asia : AEF III and the 4th Air Expeditionary Wing. He flew more than 165 combat missions in Southeast and Southwest Asia in the A-1 Skyraider and the F-15E Strike Eagle. A command pilot, he has more than 3,000 hours in various military aircraft.

Education

Assignments

Flight information

Major awards and decorations

Defense Distinguished Service Medal with two bronze oak leaf clusters
Air Force Distinguished Service Medal

Silver Star with two oak leaf clusters
Defense Superior Service Medal

Width-44 crimson ribbon with a pair of width-2 white stripes on the edges

Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster
V

Distinguished Flying Cross with two bronze oak leaf clusters and Valor V
Width-44 purple ribbon with width-4 white stripes on the borders Purple Heart

Width-44 crimson ribbon with two width-8 white stripes at distance 4 from the edges.

Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters

Air Medal (10 awards in total)
Air Medal

Aerial Achievement Medal with oak leaf cluster
Air Force Commendation Medal
Width-44 myrtle green ribbon with width-3 white stripes at the edges and five width-1 stripes down the center; the central white stripes are width-2 apart Army Commendation Medal
Presidential Unit Citation
Joint Meritorious Unit Award
V

Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with two oak leaf clusters and Valor V
Air Force Organizational Excellence Award
Combat Readiness Medal
Bronze star
Bronze star

Width=44 scarlet ribbon with a central width-4 golden yellow stripe, flanked by pairs of width-1 scarlet, white, Old Glory blue, and white stripes

National Defense Service Medal with two bronze service stars
Bronze star

Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with service star
Bronze star
Bronze star
Bronze star

Vietnam Service Medal with three service stars
Korea Defense Service Medal
Armed Forces Service Medal
Humanitarian Service Medal
Air and Space Campaign Medal

Air Force Overseas Short Tour Service Ribbon with oak leaf cluster
Air Force Overseas Long Tour Service Ribbon

Air Force Longevity Service Award with one silver and three bronze oak leaf clusters
Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon
Air Force Training Ribbon
NATO Meritorious Service Medal
Bundeswehr Cross of Honor in Silver (Republic of Germany)
Meritorious Service Cross, Military Division (Canada)
Order of National Security Merit (Korea) Gugseon Medal
Order of National Security Merit (Korea) Cheon-Su Medal
Commemorative Medal of the Slovak Defense Ministry of the First Degree (Slovak Republic)
Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm
Vietnam Civil Actions Unit Citation
Vietnam Campaign Medal

Effective dates of promotion

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lance L. Smith.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=7181".

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, February 07, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.