Jacqueline Desiree Van Ovost (born September 29, 1965) is a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

who has served as the 14th commander of the

United States Transportation Command The United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) is one of eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense. The command is located at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and was established in 1987. The USTRANSCO ...

since October 15, 2021. She was nominated to that post by President Biden on March 5, 2021. Van Ovost had previously served as the commander of the

Air Mobility Command Air Mobility Command (AMC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the U.S. Air Force. It is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, east of St. Louis, Missouri. Air Mobility Command was established on 1 June 1992, and was formed from elements ...

from August 2020 to October 2021. In early 2021, she was the only active-duty female four-star general officer in the United States.

Education

Van Ovost received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

Aeronautical Engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: Aeronautics, aeronautical engineering and Astronautics, astronautical engineering. A ...

from the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...

in 1988. Immediately commissioning into the US Air Force, she attended

U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) is the Air Force's advanced flight training school that trains experimental test pilots, flight test engineers, and flight test flight officer, navigators to carry out tests and evaluations of new ...

and graduated in 1994. Van Ovost holds

master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

, military arts and sciences, and strategic studies from

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

(1996),

Air Command and Staff College The Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) is located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama and is the United States Air Force's intermediate-level Professional Military Education (PME) school. It is a subordinate command of the Air Uni ...

(1999), and

Air War College The Air War College (AWC) is the senior Professional Military Education (PME) school of the U.S. Air Force. A part of the United States Air Force's Air University, AWC emphasizes the employment of air, space, and cyberspace in joint operation ...

(2004), respectively.

Military career

Early career

Van Ovost was commissioned upon graduation from the

in 1988. She is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School and is a command pilot with more than 4,200 hours in more than 30 aircraft, including the C-32A, C-17A, C-141B, and

KC-135R The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transport ...

. Van Ovost's notable military assignments include Vice Commander of the

United States Air Force Expeditionary Center The United States Air Force Expeditionary Center is the Air Force's Center of Excellence for advanced expeditionary combat support training and education. It consists of nine units with approximately 14,000 Airmen in 28 countries. History The U ...

(2012-13), Deputy Director for Politico-Military Affairs (

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

) in the Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate (J5) of the Joint Staff (2013-15), Vice Director for the Joint Staff (2015-17), Director of Staff at Headquarters Air Force (2017-2020), and Deputy Commander of

(April 2020-August 2020).

Air Mobility Command

On July 20, 2020, the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

confirmed Van Ovost as commander of

(AMC), a

major command Major Command or Major Commands are large formations of the United States Armed Forces. Historically, a Major Command is the highest level of command. Within the United States Army, the acronym MACOM is used for Major Command. Within the United Stat ...

(MAJCOM) of the

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

; Van Ovost also gained her fourth-star. She replaced retiring AMC commander Gen.

Maryanne Miller Maryanne Miller is a retired United States Air Force general and a pilot who last served as the commander of Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base from September 7, 2018 to August 20, 2020. She previously served as the Chief of Air Force ...

, under whom she served as AMC's deputy commander, on August 20, 2020. Van Ovost served as AMC Commander until she relinquished command on October 5, 2021. In preparation for her expected confirmation as TRANSCOM head, President Biden nominated

United States Indo-Pacific Command United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific, Indo-Pacific region. Formerly known as United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) since its incept ...

(INDOPACOM) deputy commander

Lt. Gen. Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star rank, three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in ...

Michael Minihan to replace Van Ovost as AMC commander.

Transportation Command nomination

On March 6, 2021, Defense Secretary

Lloyd Austin Lloyd James Austin III (born August 8, 1953) is a retired United States Army four-star general who, since his appointment on January 22, 2021, has served as the 28th United States secretary of defense. He is the first African American to serv ...

announced that President Biden had nominated Van Ovost to become commander of

(TRANSCOM). Her nomination was sent to the Senate on March 5, 2021. Her nomination was originally recommended by then-

Defense Secretary The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The s ...

Mark Esper Mark Thomas Esper (born April 26, 1964) is an American politician and manufacturing executive who served as the 27th United States secretary of defense from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, he had previously served as the 23rd ...

and General

Mark Milley Mark Alexander Milley (born June 20, 1958) is a United States Army general who serves as the 20th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He previously served as the 39th chief of staff of the Army from August 14, 2015 to August 9, 2019, and hel ...

, but Esper later delayed it until after the

2020 United States presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...

due to his concerns of the Trump administration's possible reaction against nominating women to such high leadership positions. Van Ovost's nomination hearings to head TRANSCOM were held before the

Senate Armed Services Committee The Committee on Armed Services (sometimes abbreviated SASC for ''Senate Armed Services Committee'') is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defe ...

on September 23, 2021. She was confirmed by the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

unanimous consent In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house (or leave of the senate), is a situation in which no member present objects to a prop ...

on October 1, 2021 and assumed command on October 15, 2021, becoming the second woman to lead a unified combatant command after General

Lori Robinson Lori Jean Robinson (born 1959) is a retired United States Air Force general who served as commander of the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) from May 2016 to May 201 ...

Awards and decorations

Effective dates of promotion

References

External link

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ovost, Jacqueline Van 1965 births United States Air Force personnel of the Gulf War United States Air Force personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Living people Recipients of the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Air Force Academy alumni United States Air Force generals