President Bill Clinton nominated Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas Moorman '62 for his fourth star and a promotion to vice chief of staff of the Air Force.
Moorman said he is awaiting confirmation of his appointment, which he expects to come before the end of July.
Moorman is currently vice-commander of the Air Force Space Command, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The general said he found out about the nomination while on a plane to Vandenberg Air Force base in California.
"General Merril McPeak, the Air Force chief of staff, called me on May 3," Moorman said in a telephone interview from the Colorado Springs air base. "He told me the annoucement would be made the following day. When I found out, I was a little bit humbled. It's a big job and a big challenge."
Moorman said he was recommended for the promotion by Secretary of State William Perry and then President Clinton made the actual nomination.
Moorman said he and Clinton have never met, although he knows Perry well through past experiences.
The general said he does not expect to go through confirmation hearings.
As vice chief of staff, Moorman said he would be the number two official in the Air Force and would transfer to Bowling Air Force base, just outside Washington, D.C.
Moorman said his new responsibilities will include overseeing the activities of the Air Staff, which is theAir Force's headquarters. He said he would also be a member of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, which looks at requirements for all Department of Defense weapons for military services.
Moorman said his other primary job responsibility will be to chair several oversight boards, which decide resource allocations. Moorman said he will help decide what the Air Force buys with its $70-billion share of the national budget.
At Dartmouth, Moorman participated in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Program. After graduation, he joined the Air Force, intending to serve only three years and then go to law school.
Moorman started out as an intelligence analyst in Kansas and then was transferred to California.
In California, Moorman worked on the SR-71 plane, which was the first airplane to go Mach 3. The technology of the plane fascinated him, he said, and influenced his decision to remain in the Air Force past his three-year requirement.
In the early 1970s, Moorman got involved with the Air Force's space program, which he has been a part of ever since.
"In Desert Storm, we used our full space resources," he said. "We had navigation, weather, warning and communication satellites. I can envision down the line, space data going directly into cockpits."
Moorman was a history major at Dartmouth and a member of Phi Delta fraternity.
"Dartmouth taught me good communication skills," Moorman said. "Because of it, I can take highly technical things and make them understandable."
As a former ROTC cadet at Dartmouth, Moorman reacted very strongly when told of the recent controversy surrounding the College's ROTC program.
"I think if you get rid of the ROTC program, you are cutting off your nose in spite of your face," Moorman said. "If the military should be a citizen's military, then you need officers. You want your officers to represent all types of institutions ... The U.S. military is interested in officers that represent all parts of the country, including different experiences and academic bases."