Air Force Gen. Charles Q. “CQ” Brown Jr. was confirmed Tuesday as the next Air Force Chief of Staff by a unanimous 98-0 vote in the Senate. Gen. Brown, a 37-year Air Force veteran, is the first African-American to serve as the top uniformed officer in any of the military services.
In a Twitter message, Vice President Mike Pence called it “a historic day for our nation.”
“Congratulations, Gen. Brown,” the vice president wrote.
Gen. Brown, whose fighter pilot callsign is “CQ” takes over for the retiring Gen. David Goldfein. He is currently head of the U.S. Air Force in the Pacific region. Before taking that job, Gen. Brown was deputy commander of U.S. Central Command.
An F-16 pilot who was commissioned in 1984, Gen. Brown has accumulated 2,900 flight hours of which 130 were in combat.
Amid the uproar last week over the killing of George Floyd, Gen. Brown talked about his life in the military in a video that went viral. “I’m thinking about a history of racial issues and my own experiences that didn’t always sing of liberty and equality,” he said.
He will be the first black member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff since Army Gen. Colin Powell — who served as chairman between 1989 and 1993.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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