The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth version existing for acts of joint military service performed under the Department of Defense.
General Larry D. Welch is a retired United States Air Force four-star general who served as the 12th Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. As Chief of Staff, he served as the senior uniformed Air Force officer responsible for the organization, training and equipping of a combined active duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian force serving at locations in the United States and overseas. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he and the other service chiefs functioned as the principal military advisers to the Secretary of Defense, National Security Council and the President. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Nuclear Weapon Surety Task Force for the Defense Science Board.
Bradley Clark Hosmer is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force (USAF). He served as the twelfth Superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado from 1991 to 1994. He was the first Academy graduate to return as superintendent.
Kevin Christopher Kiley is a former lieutenant general in the United States Army who served as the 41st Surgeon General of the United States Army and the commander of the U.S. Army Medical Command, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He was commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and North Atlantic Regional Medical Command twice, from 2002 to 2004, and as acting commander, March 1–2, 2007. He submitted his request to retire from the U.S. Army on March 11, 2007, in the wake of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal, and was removed from his nominative billet as a lieutenant general. Pending retirement, he was assigned to a temporary billet at the General Officer Management Office at the Pentagon in the grade major general. His retirement in the grade of major general was subsequently approved.
Major General Wendell L. Griffin, USAF, is a retired American Air Force officer who served as the Chief of Safety of the United States Air Force from 2007 to 2009.
Charles Bruce Green is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force and was the twentieth Surgeon General of the United States Air Force.
Brigadier General Carmelita Vigil-Schimmenti is a retired officer of the United States Air Force, who in 1985 became the first Hispanic female to attain the rank of Brigadier General. Vigil-Schimmenti was the Chief of the United States Air Force Nurse Corps, Office of the Surgeon General; Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
Việt Xuan Luong is a retired United States Army major general. He is the first American officer promoted to general officer rank who was born in Vietnam. He last served as the Commanding General of United States Army, Japan/I Corps Forward. He previously served as the Deputy Commanding General (Operations), Eighth Army. His prior assignments included chief of staff of United States Army Central; Director of Joint and Integration, Headquarters Department of the Army, G-8; assistant division commander–maneuver for the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, concurrent with assignment as commander, Train Advise Assist Command – South, Resolute Support Mission Joint Command, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Afghanistan.
George E. Schafer was a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force who served as surgeon general of the United States Air Force from 1975 to 1978.
Monte Baldwin Miller was a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force who served as surgeon general of the United States Air Force from 1988 to 1991.
Howard Wesley Leaf was a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force. He served as a fighter pilot during the Korean War and Vietnam War and retired as assistant vice chief of staff at the Pentagon in 1984.
Major General William K. James of United States Air Force, was director of the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) between June 1990 and June 1993. Under his leadership Major General James redirected the DMA – a heritage organization of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency – from producing products to meet the requirements of the Cold War to a concept of a Global Geospatial Information System (GGIS) directly accessible to combat commanders of the Rapid Deployment Forces. The GGIS was a major paradigm shift in warfare with the delivery of geographic information to fast-moving military forces.
Doyle Eugene Larson was a United States Air Force major general. He was the first commander of the Electronic Security Command, a major command with headquarters at Kelly Air Force Base, Texas. The command was formed in August 1979 from the United States Air Force Security Service and other Air Force assets.
Major General Philip William Nuber of United States Air Force, was director of the Defense Mapping Agency from December 1994 to May 1996.
Major General Raymund E. O'Mara of United States Air Force, was tenth Director of the Defense Mapping Agency from June 1993 till his retirement in December 1994; with headquarters at Fairfax, Virginia. As director of DMA, O'Mara moved forward with the implementation of the Global Geospatial Information System, and also initiated the agency's reinvention task force.
Major General Robert Alan "Rosie" Rosenberg of United States Air Force was Director of Defense Mapping Agency from July 1985 to September 1987. Throughout his 30-year career with the U.S. Air Force, he was instrumental to the U.S. satellite program. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2005.
Major General Robert Francis Durkin of the United States Air Force was Director of Defense Mapping Agency from October 1987 to June 1990. As director, Durkin restructured the Defense Mapping Agency's international and domestic training in the production and exploitation of geospatial information.
Stephen L. Davis is a United States Air Force lieutenant general who serves as the Inspector General of the Department of the Air Force since March 2022. He most recently served as the director of global power programs at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. Previously, he was the director for global operations of the United States Strategic Command.
Sarah E. Zabel is a retired United States Air Force general and former vice director of the US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) where she managed a federal agency of 16,000 military, civilian and contract personnel. Her principal mission was to plan, develop, deliver and operate command and control capabilities and a global enterprise infrastructure in direct support of the president, the secretary of defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the combatant commanders, the Department of Defense components and other mission partners across the full spectrum of operations.
Cedric Terry Wins is a retired U.S. Army general officer. Major General Wins was the last commander of RDECOM, in the U.S. Army Materiel Command, and the first commanding general (CG) of Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), in the combat development element of U.S. Army Futures Command. In all, some 13,000 people work in some Science and Technology (S&T), or capacity for DEVCOM.
