Black History

Gen. Charles Quinton Brown, Jr., New U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Followed the Road Less Taken.

After being sworn in last Friday, Air Force General Charles Quinton Brown, Jr. assumed his role as Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff on Oct. 1. He follows retiring General Mark A. Milley who served as the 20th Joint Chiefs of Staff chair. The chairman is the highest ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces. He is the principal military advisor to the president, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and the Secretary of Defense.

Published

2 years ago

October 10, 2023

Oakland Post

Charles Quinton Brown, Jr., General, U.S. Air Force, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. Official portrait, 2022, courtesy of the U.S. Air Force.

By Conway Jones

The chairman is the highest ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces. He is the principal military advisor to the president, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and the Secretary of Defense.

Before being confirmed on Sept. 27 as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brown, who goes by ‘CQ,’ was the first Black service chief in U.S. military history when he became the 22^nd chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force in 2020.

Brown is highly qualified to advise President Joe Biden, and lead in direct support to empower, enable, and equip America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and guardsmen.

Across decades of warfighting experience, Brown was previously selected to be the Commandant of the U.S. Air Force Weapons School. The Weapons School is responsible for teaching and reinforcing officer and enlisted instructors to further develop the Air Force and National Guard members to be responsible and accountable for the effective employment of the most lethal weapons systems in the world.

The Weapons School Commandant position is possibly the most competitive, selective Brigadier General assignment in the Department of Defense.” said Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright, USAF (Retired), president & CEO, Air & Space Forces Association.

General Brown has a command pilot rating with more than 3,000 flying hours including 130 combat hours. He has ﬂown the F-16 fighters A/B/C/D models, and 20 additional ﬁxed and rotary-wing aircraft.

“It is appropriate that the first Black USAF Chief of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown Jr., was a fighter pilot, like the most famous of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II,” said Daniel Haulman, Ph.D., retired Chief Historian, US Air Force.

The first three Black generals in the United States Air Force were Tuskegee Airmen Benjamin O. Davis Jr., Daniel “Chappie” James, and Lucius Theus, Haulman said.

“I am delighted that General Brown is now the second Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the first one to come from the United States Air Force,” said Haulman.

General Brown’s promotions through the military ranks to this office are reflected in the last line of the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken.” “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference.”