Major General gregory a. feest

Maj. Gen. Gregory A. Feest is the Air Force Chief of Safety, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., and Commander, Air Force Safety Center, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. He develops, executes and evaluates all Air Force aviation, ground, weapons, space and system mishap prevention, and nuclear surety programs to preserve combat readiness. Additionally, he directs research to promote safety awareness and mishap prevention, oversees mishap investigations, evaluates corrective actions, and ensures implementation. Finally, he manages, develops and directs all Air Force safety and risk management courses.

General Feest received his commission through the ROTC program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1978. He has held a variety of flying assignments, including command of the operations and maintenance of one of only two operational F-117A stealth fighter squadrons. He has also commanded the 479th Flying Training Group, Moody AFB, Ga.; the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, Southwest Asia; and 19th Air Force, Randolph AFB, Texas. His staff assignments include Air Force liaison officer to the U.S. Senate, senior military assistant to the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Deputy Director of Requirements at Headquarters Air Combat Command. The general also served as Air Education and Training Command's Director of Logistics, Installations and Mission Support, as well as Deputy Director for Force Application in the Directorate of Force Structure, Resources and Assessment on the Joint Staff. 

General Feest is a command pilot with more than 5,600 flying hours, including more than 800 combat hours earned during operations Just Cause, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

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Gen Feest’s military awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross with “V” device, Bronze Star Medal with oak leaf cluster, Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, Air Medal with silver and three bronze oak leaf clusters, Aerial Achievement Medal with silver oak leaf cluster, and many more.

 

General Feest, then a major, saw Desert Storm from a slightly different perspective.  Flying the lead F-117A stealth fighter, his mission was to drop a two-thousand pound laser-guided bomb onto an Iraqi interceptor operations center.  The weapon impacted on time, on target, marking the opening of the air campaign.  In addition to dropping the first bomb on Iraq in Operation Desert Storm, he dropped the first bomb during the Panama operation in December 1989, and in August 1990, he flew the lead fighter as the F-117As deployed to Khamis Mushayt.

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"It was like flying into the biggest fireworks demonstration you have ever seen.  Realize, we were in the heart of it. Because of the delivery system we had at the time, we had to be down low. We couldn't fly over the AAA (anti-aircraft artillery), we had to fly into the heart of it."

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https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/104633/major-general-gregory-a-feest/