A 1963 graduate from the United States Air Force Academy, he holds a master's degree in military history and political science from Duke University. A command pilot and a parachutist, he amassed more than 6,800 flying hours in fighter, transport, tanker and rotary wing aircraft. He flew 315 combat missions and logged 806 hours of combat flying in fighter aircraft. 80 of his missions were as a "Misty FAC" in the F-100F Super Sabre at Phù Cát Air Base between 25 December 1968 and 23 April 1969. Fogleman was shot down in Vietnam in 1968, while piloting an F-100. He was rescued by clinging to an AH-1 Cobra helicopter that landed at the crash site. In early assignments he instructed student pilots, performed combat duty as a fighter pilot and high-speed forward air controller in Vietnam and Thailand, taught history at the Air Force Academy and conducted flight operations in Europe—including duty as an F-15 Eagle aircraft demonstration pilot for international airshows. He commanded an Air Force wing, an air division, a numbered air force, a major command and a unified combatant command. Fogleman was the first graduate of the United States Air Force Academy to advance to Chief of Staff of the Air Force. During his tenure, he introduced a simplified code of conduct for airmen, which remains in use today. Called the "Air Force Core Values", the code demands "Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do." Fogleman retired on September 1, 1997.
Accolades for air combat and recon during the Bosnian War
During the Bosnian War, Fogleman as USAF Chief of Staff, was intimately familiar with air reconnaissance and combat rescue missions, trading on his experience early in his career when he flew as an F-100 Misty FastFac serving as the on scene commander for combat rescue efforts in Vietnam and later in life when he flew F-4s and F-15s in Europe during the Cold War. Fogleman's understanding of how to factor real-time intelligence and electronic signals from unmanned Gnat 750 and Predator surveillance aircraft, over hostile areas proved critical when U.S. Air Force pilot Scott O'Grady's F-16 was shot down over Bosnia and Herzegovina on 2 June 1995. O'Grady evaded capture and on 6 June, he transmitted intermittent radio messages to lessen the chance of detection by enemy forces. O'Grady was rescued by US Marines on 8 June.
