Brigadier General Harold Arthur Strack is chief of the Studies, Analysis and Gaming Agency of the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
General Strack was born in 1923, in San Francisco, Calif., where he was raised and received his early schooling. He entered active military service in 1943, graduating from navigation school at Selman Field, La., with a navigator rating and a commission as a second lieutenant.
During 1944 he served with the Fifteenth Air Force in the European Theater of Operations, where he flew a total of 34 combat missions over the Balkans, France, Italy and Germany.
From 1946 through 1949 he was a senior instructor and officer-in-charge of navigation ground training in the Air Navigation-Bombardment School at Mather Air Force Base, Calif.
In January 1950 General Strack joined the Strategic Air Command, taking part in combat operations as a B-29 crew member flying on 28 missions over Korea, and as the 22d Bombardment Wing staff radar observer for operational planning and mission briefing. He remained as wing staff observer until June 1954, when he was assigned to the first of two tours at Headquarters Strategic Air Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., as chief of the Radar Bombing Branch, in the Directorate of Operations. From July 1956 to August 1959 he commanded the 1st Radar Bombardment Scoring Group at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas, which was a worldwide organization of radar sites for scoring simulated bomb runs and conducting electronic countermeasures training for aircrews. He then returned to Headquarters Strategic Air Command where he served as chief of the Missile Requirements Branch in the Directorate of Operations, during the early phase of missile development. He attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Washington, D.C., during 1962 and 1963.
General Strack was assigned to the 90th Strategic Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., from July 1963 to June 1965 as deputy commander for operations and as vice commander. He next was given the first of his two assignments to the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as chief of the Strategic Nuclear Branch of the Chairman's Special Studies Group. In 1968 he became deputy assistant to the chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, for Strategic Arms Negotiations.
In August 1969 he returned to the 90th Strategic Missile Wing as commander. General Strack was reassigned to the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as chief, Studies, Analysis and Gaming Agency, in January 1972.
He holds the aeronautical rating of master navigator and has been awarded the master missileman badge. He is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation Emblem with oak leaf cluster and the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon.
He was promoted to the temporary grade of brigadier general effective Dec. 31, 1970, with date of rank Dec. 25, 1970.
(Current as of February 2021)