US Air Force (USAF) General Jim Slife formally received his fourth star and was promoted to be the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff during a ceremony at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, DC, on 29 December 2023.
Commissioned through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) programme at Auburn University, Gen Slife has spent most of his air force career in special operations aviation assignments, including at Hurlburt Field in Florida, RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom and Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico.
Gen Slife is a command pilot with more than 3,100 flight hours on the MH-53 helicopter and MQ-1 Predator armed unmanned aerial vehicle, among others. He most recently served as the air force’s deputy chief of staff for operations, leading the development and implementation of policy directly supporting global operations, force management, training and readiness.
He has commanded Air Force Special Operations Command and held numerous joint leadership positions, including vice commander of US Southern Command, chief of staff for U. Special Operations Command, and chief of staff for United Nations Command and US Forces Korea.
As the USAF vice chief, Gen Slife will guide the Air Staff and assist Chief of Staff of the Air Force General David Allvin with organising, training and equipping 689,000 active-duty, Guard, Reserve, and civilian forces serving in the United States and overseas.
“Like Gen Allvin, he steps into his new role with an understanding of the challenges facing the force and a sense of urgency to address them,” the USAF said in a press statement.
“We stand at the precipice of a different strategic environment,” Gen Slife was quoted as saying. “[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] General Brown called on us to accelerate change. Secretary [of the Air Force Frank] Kendall has empowered us to actually think about … what we need to have to be competitive for the next several decades.”
Gen Allvin emphasised the value Gen Slife will bring to that problem set.
“[It’s] the hardest thing we’ve done in a long time and maybe the hardest thing we do together,” he said. “So having someone on the team who knows that and has done that … couldn’t be better now for our force.”
