BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : GENERAL EDWARD A. RICE Jr AFRICAN AMERICAN GENERAL IN THE "UNITED STATES AIR FORCE : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

Gen. Edward A. Rice Jr. is Commander, Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas. He is responsible for the recruiting, training and education of Air Force personnel. His command includes the Air Force Recruiting Service, a numbered air force and Air University. AETC trains more than 293,000 students per year and consists of 12 bases, more than 67,900 active-duty, Reserve, Guard, civilians and contractors, and 1,369 trainer, fighter and mobility aircraft.

General Rice is a 1978 distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He has commanded a squadron, group, wing, the Air Force Recruiting Service, two numbered air forces and a joint command. His numerous staff positions include serving as a White House Fellow at the Department of Health and Human Services, as a professional staff member for the Commission on Roles and Missions of the Armed Forces, and as the Deputy Executive Secretary for the National Security Council. He has also served as Chief of Staff of the Office of the Representative and Executive Director for the Coalition Provisional Authority, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington, D.C.

General Rice has significant experience in combat and contingency operations, to include commanding bomber operations during the first four months of Operation Enduring Freedom as Commander, 28th Air Expeditionary Wing. Additionally, during Operation Unified Assistance, General Rice served as the Deputy Commander for the joint task force, Combined Support Force-536, assigned to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to victims of the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. The general is a command pilot with more than 3,900 flying hours in the B-1B, B-52G/H, E-3, B-2, KC-135, C-130H, T-37 and T-38.

 Rice joined the Air Force as an officer after attending the U.S. Air Force Academy (Colorado Springs, CO) where he earned a BS in engineering sciences in 1978. He finished his masters degree in aeronautical science and technology from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, FL) in 1986.

"The great thing about my job is that I don't have any 'typical days,'" he says with a smile. "I attend meetings to get feedback on initiatives going on within the command. I do try to clear an hour of my time in the morning and again in the afternoon to think about what I, and others, need to be doing to move the organization forward. In a job like this, you can spend all your time reacting to what's going on. I've found that it is useful to free space on my schedule to ensure that I'm actually leading actions.

"I have a management and administrative staff that works directly for me. I also have a deputy commander. Operationally, my command has almost 70,000 people in it, divided among recruiting, flight training, technical training, and education. Each of the four commanders reports directly to me."

Rice believes that his leadership approach is "focused and objective-oriented with high standards. I hope my staff would say I'm someone who thinks a lot about the requirements of the future. I'm a good listener, interested in what people have to say, and I'm someone to whom bad news can be told when necessary."