Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, who is now commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, has been nominated to move to the Pentagon for his next assignment, the Defense Department said Tuesday.
If confirmed, Heithold will be principal deputy director of cost assessment and program evaluation for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the release said. The cost assessment and program evaluation office analyzes and evaluates Defense's plans, programs and budgets as they relate to military objectives, projected threats, allied contributions, estimated costs and resource constraints, the DoD's website says.
Heithold is a prior-enlisted officer, who enlisted in 1974 and was an avionics technician at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1981 after graduating from the ROTC program at the University of Arkansas. He is a master navigator with more than 3,400 flight hours in the AC-130H/U, MC-130P and C-130E, the Air Force's website said.
Before taking charge of AFSOC at Florida's Hurlburt Field in 2014, Heithold was vice commander of U.S. Special Operations Command in Washington. He has also served as commander of the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and Vice Commander of Warner Robins Air Logistics Center at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.
The release also said Maj. Gen. Maryanne Miller has been nominated to receive her third star and to be assigned to be chief of the Air Force Reserve at the Pentagon and the commander of Air Force Reserve Command at Robins. Miller is now deputy to the chief of Air Force Reserve.
Maj. Gen. Leon Rice has also been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and to be assigned as the director of the Air National Guard at the Pentagon's National Guard Bureau. Rice is now adjutant general for the Massachusetts National Guard at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts.
Col. Kenneth Ekman, who is now vice director of operations for North American Defense Command headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, has also been nominated to receive his first star.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
