MAJOR GENERAL PAUL H. HODGES

Major General Paul H. Hodges is director of the Inter-American Defense College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington D.C.

General Hodges was born in 1930, in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Lowell High School in San Francisco and then attended Oberlin (Ohio) College until the outbreak of the Korean War. He enrolled in the aviation cadet program and received his commission as a second lieutenant in December 1952. General Hodges resumed his academic studies while on active duty and received a bachelor of arts degree in history from the University of Omaha in 1966. He graduated from the Air War College in 1971.

His first operational assignment was to Otis Air Force Base, Mass., as a radar observer in F-94s. After completing pilot training and advanced gunnery school, General Hodges flew RF-84F's with the 303rd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron at Sembach Air Base, West Germany, from 1956 to 1958. He transferred to the 18th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron at Laon Air Base, France, where for the next two years he flew RF-101s. While serving with the 18th, General Hodges competed in Royal Flush V, a biennial aerial reconnaissance competition among North Atlantic Treaty Organization units.

In 1960 General Hodges was assigned as an instructor pilot at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., flying RF-101s and F-101B's with the 4414th Combat Crew Training Squadron, and in 1962 represented the Tactical Air Command in the reconnaissance phase of the William Tell competition. In March 1963 he transferred to Headquarters Tactical Air Command, Langley Air Force Base, Va., and served as an air operations officer in the Special Activities Section of the Directorate of Operations until he entered the University of Omaha in June 1965.

After earning his degree in January 1966, General Hodges reported to Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, for duty as operations officer for the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, and later that year became chief of the Standardization and Evaluation Branch of the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. In December 1966 the general was assigned to the 16th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, where he flew 209 combat missions as an RF-4C aircraft commander.

After his Southeast Asia tour of duty, General Hodges spent three years at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, serving first as operations officer, then as commander of the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron.

General Hodges entered the Air War College in 1970 and after graduation was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., as chief of the Reconnaissance Division, Directorate of Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research and Development.

From August 1973 to February 1974 General Hodges served as vice commander of the 26th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Zweibrucken Air Base, West Germany. He then transferred to Royal Air Force Station Alconbury, England, as commander of the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. While there he flew RF-4C's and F-5E's. In March 1977 he assumed command of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe's largest wing, the 601st Tactical Control Wing at Sembach Air Base. The wing operates a mobile tactical air control system providing surveillance and command and control of U.S. and NATO aircraft in defensive and offensive air operations.

He returned to the United States in 1979 and was assigned as deputy director for operations, National Military Command Center, Washington, D.C. In May 1980 General Hodges became deputy director for operations (reconnaissance, electronic warfare and command, control and communications countermeasures), Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, J-3. In July 1982 he became commandant of the Air War College, and vice commander of Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. He assumed his present duties in August 1985.

The general is a command pilot and has accumulated 5,000 flying hours. His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with 14 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal and Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm.

He was promoted to major general Jan. 1, 1982, with date of rank Aug. 1, 1978.

General Hodges's hometown is Galway, N.Y.

(Current as of October 1986)