Inside the Cold War - Project Gutenberg Consortia Center
Inside the Cold War - Project Gutenberg Consortia Center
Inside the Cold War - Project Gutenberg Consortia Center
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About <strong>the</strong> Author<br />
Christopher (Chris) S. Adams Jr. was born in Shreveport,<br />
Louisiana, on 8 July 1930. He grew up in Texas and entered<br />
Air Force pilot training in August 1952, following graduation<br />
and commissioning from <strong>the</strong> Air Force Reserve Officer<br />
Training Corps program at East Texas State University (now<br />
Texas A & M University - Commerce). Pilot training was<br />
followed by 13 years of SAC combat crew duty—first as a B-36<br />
pilot with <strong>the</strong> 95th Bomb Wing, Biggs Air Force Base (AFB),<br />
Texas, <strong>the</strong>n as a B-52G pilot at Ramey in Puerto Rico. Several<br />
Chromedome missions later, and after <strong>the</strong> Cuban crisis,<br />
General Adams attended missile combat crew training. Upon<br />
completion of missile crew training, he was assigned to <strong>the</strong><br />
44th Strategic Missile Wing (SMW), Ellsworth AFB, South<br />
Dakota, as a Minuteman combat crew commander and <strong>the</strong><br />
wing senior instructor crew commander. Vietnam brought him<br />
back to <strong>the</strong> cockpit as a C-141 transport pilot at Dover AFB,<br />
Delaware, in support of Sou<strong>the</strong>ast Asia (SEA) operations.<br />
Later, he was reassigned to <strong>the</strong> combat zone as Director of<br />
Operations, 388th Combat Support Group at Korat Air Base,<br />
Thailand.<br />
Following his SEA tour, General Adams was assigned to<br />
Joint Task Force Eight (Defense Nuclear Agency [DNA]),<br />
Sandia Base, New Mexico, as <strong>the</strong> air operations officer for<br />
atmospheric nuclear readiness-to-test planning. From Sandia<br />
Base, he was assigned to DNA Headquarters in Washington,<br />
D.C., first as executive to <strong>the</strong> director and later as Director,<br />
J-5. Following his DNA tour, he moved in quick succession<br />
from deputy commander for operations to vice commander<br />
and <strong>the</strong>n commander of a SAC Minuteman Missile Wing.<br />
Selected for promotion to brigadier general in November<br />
1975, Chris Adams assumed command of 12th Air Division,<br />
which included two B-52 wings, a U-2 wing, and a Titan II<br />
ICBM wing. In July 1976, he was directed to move 12th Air<br />
Division Headquarters to Dyess AFB, Texas, and to begin<br />
preparations for accepting <strong>the</strong> B-1 bomber. However, <strong>the</strong><br />
election of Jimmy Carter in November brought a temporary<br />
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