Lt Col Richard J. Lavery V is an MQ-9 Pilot and the Chief of Staff of the 188th Wing, Ebbing Field, Arkansas Air National Guard. He leads four Airmen to develop and implement the A-Staff to accelerate the Wing Commander’s decision cycle by informing, planning, advising, and queuing Command decisions.

 

Prior to this assignment, he commanded the 188th Operations Support Squadron, leading 98 airmen in support of the Operations Group’s 24/7 MQ-9 combat mission. This included pilots, sensor operators, intelligence, communications, aviation resource management, weather, and airfield operations. The 188 OSS provides equipment, facilities and support to produce combat capability abroad.

 

Lt Col Lavery began his service as a vehicle maintainer in the 202d Red Horse Squadron, Florida Air National Guard, and subsequently commissioned through the Reserve Officer Training Corps at the U of South Florida in Tampa and vectored into Space and Missile Operations at Malmstrom AFB, MT. He served five years of nuclear alert duty in various operational roles as Scheduler, Flight Commander, Alternate Wing Command Post, and Instructor. While on nuclear alert, he was responsible for the security, operational health, and execution of 150 nuclear-armed Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles. He pulled 245 nuclear alerts at 14 Launch Control Centers, served two wing-wide Operational Code Changes, and led a Simulated Electronic Launch test that verified the functionality of every launch aspect short of first-stage ignition. He led the Current Operations Flight’s four sections: Courseware, Upgrades, Scheduling, and Scenario Development. This assignment culminated as Chief, Weapons and Tactics Training. He led 38 instructors to “sharpen the combat edge” of 290 missileers.

 

He attended and graduated from the Air Force Weapons School at Nellis AFB. He was the first class in the newly activated 315th Weapons Squadron. The ICBM Weapons Instructor Course develops experts in US nuclear strategy, execution & integration, foreign nuclear systems, advanced instructor skills, and problem-solving. He was assigned to the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron, Offutt AFB, NE, as the first Weapons Officer in the airborne crew force. He triple-hatted as the Airborne Launch Control System (ALCS) crew commander, Intelligence Officer, and Strike Planner on the USSTRATCOM Battlestaff. He provided Current Intelligence Briefs, Order of Battle, battle-tracking, and damage assessments to the Airborne Emergency Action Officer (AEAO), a joint General and Flag Officer (GOFO) assigned to the US Navy’s E-6B Mercury. In this assignment, he served as Instructor, Evaluator, ICBM Codes Controller, Chief of Operational Test & Evaluation, and the squadron’s first Weapons Officer. He validated the functionality of five aircraft following Block I modifications, validated the ALCS simulator’s Block I modification, led two Simulated Electronic Launches, and developed new execution tactics. His assignment highlight was the live-fly launch of an ICBM from Vandenberg AFB, CA, with the inert payload accurately striking the Kwajalein Atoll. He executed 440 flight hours as a non-rated aircrew.

 

Lt Col Lavery left the Air Force in 2015 and settled in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He joined the Missouri Air National Guard as a Space Duty Officer, 157th Air Operations Group. In 2016, he was re-assigned as Operations Officer for AFROTC Det 030, University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He recruited and mentored 160 “Thunderhawg” cadets and was the Assistant Director of Operations for Field Training, leading 850 cadets, officers, and NCOs during ROTC’s most rigorous 4-week training event. The following year, he joined the Arkansas Air National Guard in 2019. Following CMR certification, he was mobilized to CENTCOM operations in the spring of 2021. He then served as a Liaison Officer for the Air National Guard’s first MQ-9 Agile Combat Employment exercise. He supported seven named operations in four continents. He is a pilot with 623 combat hours.

 

EDUCATION

2006 Bachelor of Arts degree, International Studies, University of South Florida, Tampa, Fla. 2012 ICBM Weapons Instructor Course, Nellis AFB, Nev.

2013 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Ala.

2018 Air Command and Staff College, Air University, by Correspondence

2019 Master of Arts degree, Operational Warfare, Air University, by Correspondence 2023 Air War College, Air University, by Correspondence