John William Rosa Jr. (born September 28, 1951) is a retired United States Air Force Lieutenant General who served as President of his alma mater The Citadel in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

from 2006 to 2018. While on active duty, Rosa also served as the sixteenth Superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy.

Background and education

Born in

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

, Illinois and son of a career United States Navy Chief Petty Officer he attended high school in Jacksonville, Florida and was awarded a football scholarship to The Citadel in

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

, South Carolina where he won the starting quarterback job his sophomore year until sidelined with a knee injury; he is an initiate of the Theta Commission of the Kappa Alpha Order. Rosa entered the Air Force in May 1973 after receiving his bachelor's degree and his commission (via

Air Force ROTC The Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) is one of the three primary commissioning sources for officers in the United States Air Force and United States Space Force, the other two being the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) ...

); he earned a master's degree in public administration from Golden Gate University in 1985. Rosa is also a graduate of the Air Force

Squadron Officer School Squadron Officer School (SOS), is a 5.5-week-long Professional Military Education (PME) course for U.S. Air Force and Space Force Captains, Department of the Air Force Civilian (DAFC) equivalents and International Officers. It fulfills the U.S ...

, Air Command and Staff College, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, U.S. Army War College and the Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security Management,

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

, Harvard University.

Military assignments

After his commissioning, Rosa went to pilot training at Craig Air Force Base, Alabama, followed by fighter training at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. He flew the LTV A-7 Corsair II and

Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 1976, it is named for the Republ ...

with the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina then the

General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

with the 56th Tactical Fighter Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; from 1980 to 1983, he served an exchange tour with the Royal Air Force as a pilot in

Hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

and

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

aircraft at RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland. His command positions have included the

35th Tactical Fighter Squadron The 35th Fighter Squadron is a United States Air Force unit, assigned to the 8th Operations Group, stationed at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. The squadron operates the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft conducting air superiority mi ...

, Kunsan Air Base, South Korea; the 366th Operations Support Squadron,

Mountain Home Air Force Base Mountain Home Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) installation in the western United States. Located in southwestern Idaho in Elmore County, the base is southwest of Mountain Home, which is southeast of Boise via Interstate ...

, Idaho;

49th Operations Group The 49th Operations Group (49 OG) is the operational flying component of the United States Air Force 49th Wing. It is stationed at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, and is a part of Air Combat Command (ACC). During World War II, the unit's p ...

at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico;

20th Fighter Wing The 20th Fighter Wing is a wing of the United States Air Force and the host unit at Shaw Air Force Base South Carolina. The wing is assigned to Air Combat Command's Fifteenth Air Force. The wing's mission is to provide, project, and sustain ...

, Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina; and the

347th Rescue Wing The 347th Rescue Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Air Force Special Operations Command, stationed at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. It was inactivated on 1 October 2006. History : ''For additional ...

, Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. He has also served on staff assignments at Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Air Force headquarters, and was Deputy Director for Operations on the Joint Staff. He also served as Commandant of the Air Command and Staff College and concluded his military career serving as the sixteenth Superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy before retiring from the Air Force in 2005. Rosa is a Command Pilot with more than 3,600 flying hours in the

A-7 A7, A.7, A 7, A07 or A-7 may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * A7, the A dominant seventh chord used in many rock songs, see dominant seventh chord * A (musical note) * ''A7'' (mixtape), by SCH, 2015 * Avenged Sevenfold, a hard rock/meta ...

, A-10, the

and

aircraft,

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

F-117A The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a retired American single-seat, twin-engine stealth attack aircraft developed by Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). It was the first operational airc ...

, HH-60G and

HC-130 The Lockheed HC-130 is an extended-range, search and rescue (SAR)/ combat search and rescue (CSAR) version of the C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft, with two different versions operated by two separate services in the U.S. armed fo ...

; he also attended the Instructor Course of the USAF Weapons School.

Awards and decorations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosa, John W., Jr. 1951 births Living people United States Air Force generals Superintendents of the United States Air Force Academy Presidents of The Citadel Recipients of the Legion of Merit Golden Gate University alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni The Citadel Bulldogs football players United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni Recipients of the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Military personnel from Jacksonville, Florida People from Springfield, Illinois American football quarterbacks Military personnel from Illinois