Norton Schwartz

Norton Schwartz
Schwartz circa 2008
Born	(1951-12-14) December 14, 1951 (age 65) Toms River, New Jersey, U.S.
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Years of service	1973–2012
Rank	General
Commands held	Chief of Staff of the Air Force U.S. Transportation Command Eleventh Air Force Alaskan Command U.S. Special Operations Command-Pacific 16th Special Operations Wing 36th Airlift Squadron
Battles/wars	Gulf War
Awards	See below

Norton Allan Schwartz (born December 14, 1951) is a retired United States Air Force general who served as the 19th Chief of Staff of the Air Force from August 12, 2008 until his retirement in 2012. As Chief of Staff, he served as the senior uniformed Air Force officer responsible for the organization, training and equipping of nearly 700,000 active-duty Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard and civilian forces serving in the United States and overseas. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Schwartz functioned as a military adviser to the Secretary of Defense, National Security Council and the President. He previously served as Commander, United States Transportation Command from September 2005 to August 2008.

Schwartz graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1973. He is an alumnus of the National War College, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a 1994 Fellow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Seminar XXI. He has served as Commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific, as well as Alaskan Command, Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and the 11th Air Force.

Schwartz is a USAF Command Pilot with more than 4,400 flying hours in a variety of aircraft. He has flown C-130 Hercules and MC-130 Combat Talon I and Combat Talon II aircraft and MH-53 Pave Low III and Pave Low IV, and MH-60 Black Hawk and Pave Hawk special ops helicopters. His operational background goes back to the final days of the Vietnam War; at the time, he was a crew member taking part in the 1975 airlift evacuation of Saigon. By 1991 he was chief of staff of the Joint Special Operations Task Force for Northern Iraq during the first Gulf War. He participated as a crew member in the 1975 airlift evacuation of Saigon, and in 1991 served as Chief of Staff of the Joint Special Operations Task Force for Northern Iraq in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. In 1997, he led the Joint Task Force that prepared for the noncombatant evacuation of U.S. citizens in Cambodia.