An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Pennington retires after 35-year legacy of service

  • Published
  • HQ Air Force Reserve Command

U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeffrey T. Pennington, deputy commander of the Air Force Reserve Command, retired after 35 years of dedicated service during a ceremony officiated by Maj. Gen. (retired) John Flournoy at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, Georgia, April 26.

He was responsible for the daily operations of the command of nearly 70,000 Reserve Airmen and more than 300 aircraft among three numbered Air Forces, 34 flying wings, 10 flying groups, a space wing, a cyber wing and an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance wing.

During the ceremony, Pennington thanked a number of people who served his family throughout his career and commented on the opportunity the Air Force gave him.

“The Air Force gave me an opportunity to be a servant, and I’m so honored to be asked to do that and will continue to serve however I can,” he said.

Capping off his time in service, Pennington was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal and an Outstanding Civilian Career Award during the ceremony.

Under Pennington’s leadership, the Air Force Reserve Command supported Ukraine to counter Russian aggression by deploying 270 reservists serving a combined 18,954 days, while providing Russian and Ukrainian language capability to European Command, a total force F-35 dynamic force employment, enhancing aerial refueling capability with 16 KC-46 and KC-135 missions, and generating 72 C-130H tactical airlift missions and 43 C-17 and C-5 missions delivering 2,134 tons of cargo and 570 personnel.

In addition, his leadership was instrumental in providing humanitarian and operational support to Levant operations, deploying over 1,300 reservists serving a combined 68,000 days, and generating 19 C-17 and C-130 aircraft to provide United States Central Command, United States European Command, United States Transportation Command, and partners and allies the required strategic and tactical assets to secure and stabilize the region while enabling essential non-combatant evacuation operations.

Earning the Outstanding Civilian Career Award, Pennington employed mobility and combat forces, furthered Joint All-Domain Command and Control, and optimized the force for Great Power Competition throughout his career. He also postured the command for the future fight, facilitated a 10-year, $100 million cyber strategic plan. His leadership also accelerated medical readiness by streamlining the Command wavier process, reducing backlog 50 percent. Finally, he solidified total force partnerships at nine annual major command staff-to-staffs across 43 lines of effort, yielding 75 quality of life solutions for 46,000 Airmen.

During his long career, Pennington was assigned to a variety of units, holding positions such as Combat Crew Training Instructor, Operations Officer, Standardization and Evaluation Aircraft Commander, Operations Group Commander, Wing Commander, Numbered Air Force Director of Staff, Mobilization Assistant to the Commander, Curtis E. LeMay Center and the Mobilization Assistant to the Commander and President of Air University, Maxwell AFB, Alabama prior to his final assignment as the deputy commander of the Air Force Reserve Command.