Brigadier General Michael Cruff is the Vice Commander, 22nd Air Force, Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga. 22nd Air Force has command supervision of the Air Force Reserve’s tactical air mobility operations and other vital mission sets to include distinguished visitor airlift, undergraduate pilot training, flight-test operations and a highly-mobile civil engineering response force. With more than 12,000 Reserve Airmen and 64 unit- equipped aircraft, 22nd Air Force contributes daily to the Air Force’s worldwide operational mission. 22nd Air Force accomplishes a variety of C-130 missions to include aerial spray, fire suppression, weather reconnaissance, tactical airlift/airdrop and aeromedical evacuation.

Brig. Gen. Cruff was commissioned in 1995 through the Air Force Officer Training Corps program at University of Massachusetts-Lowell. He is a command pilot with multiple assignments flying the KC-10, C-21 and C-40 aircraft, including command tours at the squadron, group and wing levels. He also served at the combatant command level as the commander of the 954th Reserve Support Squadron and as chief of the United States Transportation Command Deployment Distribution Operations Center at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

Brig. Gen. Cruff has deployed/mobilized twelve times commanding combat and combat support missions in support of operations Allied Force, Desert Fox, Southern Watch, Desert Strike Phoenix Scorpion, Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn. Prior to his current assignment, Brig. Gen. Cruff served as the Mobilization Assistant to the Director of Strategy, Requirements, Plans and Programs, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

Brig. Gen. Cruff is a command pilot with more than 4,300 military flight hours.

EDUCATION

1995 Bachelor of Science, Public Administration, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Lowell, Mass.

2000 Air Mobility Operations Course, US Air Force Expeditionary Center, Fort Dix, N.J.

2002 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Ala.

2010 Air Command and Staff College, by correspondence

2010 Masters of Military Operational Art and Science, Air University, Maxwell AFB, Ala.

2011 Advanced Leadership Course, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn.

2012 Reserve Component National Security Course, National Defense University, Ft. Leslie J. McNair, Washington, D.C.

2013 Headquarters Air Force Reserve Orientation Course, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

2013 Air War College, by correspondence

2016 Joint Combined Warfighters School - Hybrid, Joint Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Va.

2019 Director of Mobility Forces Course, Air Force Expeditionary Center, Detachment 1, Hurlburt Field, Fla.

2020 Africa Seminar, Alan L. Freed Associates, Capital Hill Club, Washington, D.C.

2021 Enterprise Leadership Seminar, University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School Chapel Hill, N.C.

2021 NATO Senior Officer Policy Course, Oberammergau, Germany

ASSIGNMENTS

1. June 1995 - May 1996, Special Assistant to the Commander, AFROTC Det 345, Lowell, Mass

2. May 1996 - June 1997, student, specialized undergraduate pilot training, Columbus AFB, Miss.

3. June 1997 - September 2001, KC-10 Instructor Pilot and Squadron Executive Officer, 2d Air Refueling Squadron, McGuire AFB, N.J.

4. September 2001 - June 2005, C-21 Evaluator Pilot, Flight Commander, Chief of STAN/EVAL and Assistant Director of Operations, Andrews AFB, Md.

5. June 2005 - June 2012, KC-10 Instructor/Evaluator Pilot, Flight Commander and Assistant Chief Pilot, 78th Air Refueling Squadron, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.

6. June 2012 - June 2016, Commander, 78th Air Refueling Squadron, 514th Air Mobility Wing, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.

7. June 2016 - April 2017, Deputy Commander, 514th Operations Group, 514th Air Mobility Wing, Joint Base McGuire- Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.

8. April 2017 - November 2018, Commander, 954th Reserve Support Squadron, Joint Transportation Reserve Unit; and Chief, USTRANSCOM Deployment Distribution Operations Center, Scott AFB, Ill.

9. November 2018 - June 2020, Vice Commander, 932d Airlift Wing, Scott AFB, Ill. (December 2018 – May 2019, Commander, 932d Airlift Wing, Scott AFB, Ill.)

10. July 2020 - August 2022, Mobilization Assistant to the Director, Strategic Plans, Requirements and Programs, Headquarters Air Mobility Command (AMC), Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

11. August 2022 - Present, Vice Commander, 22nd Air Force, Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga.

SUMMARY OF JOINT ASSIGNMENTS

1. April 2017 - November 2018, Chief, USTRANSCOM Deployment Distribution Operations Center, Scott AFB, Ill, as a Colonel

FLIGHT INFORMATION

Rating: Command pilot

Flight hours: More than 4,300

Aircraft flown: T-3, T-37, T-1, C-21A, C-40C, KC-10A

MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

Legion of Merit

Defense Meritorious Service Medal

Meritorious Service Medal with five oak leaf clusters

Air Medal

Aerial Achievement Medal with three oak leaf clusters

Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster

Air Force Achievement Medal with three oak leaf clusters

EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION