Department of the United States Air Force LogoBiography
                  United States Air ForceThis is the official portrait of Maj. Gen. Kermit C. Kaericher.
            MAJOR GENERAL KERMIT C. KAERICHERMajor General Kermit C. Kaericher is director of the Inter-American Defense College at Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C. The college is a senior service school for military personnel and civilian officials of the member nations of the Inter-American Defense Board. Its course of studies focuses on the Inter-American System and the political, economic, psychosocial and military factors affecting the defense of the Western Hemisphere.
General Kaericher was born in 1923, in West Salem, Ill., where he graduated from West Salem, Public School in 1940. He attended the University of Illinois for three years and was a member of the Enlisted Reserve. He served on active duty as an enlisted man in the grade of sergeant from June 1943 to June 1944 when he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. He graduated from the academy in June 1947 with a bachelor of science degree and a commission as a second lieutenant. He obtained his master's degree in nuclear physics from Ohio State University in March 1952, and the majority of his subsequent career has been in assignments related to nuclear physics.
After graduation from the academy he attended pilot training at Barksdale Air Force Base, La. From December 1948 to May 1950, General Kaericher served as a pilot, then entered Ohio State University under the Air Force Institute of Technology program. From March 1952 to September 1957, he was involved in the research and development of nuclear weapons and the study of weapons effects at the Cambridge Research Center, Mass., and the Air Force Special Weapons Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
In September 1957 General Kaericher was selected to be an instructor in the Department of Physics at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo., and a year later he became an associate professor of physics. He attended the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., from September 1961 to June 1962.
General Kaericher returned in July 1962 to research and development with the Defense Atomic Support Agency at Sandia Base, N.M., where he was assigned as assistant testing officer and later became chief of the Aircraft and Missile Section. In August 1964 he was transferred to Headquarters U.S. Air Force Special Reporting Division, where he served as chief of the Aircraft and Missile Section, Weapons Testing Division.
He graduated from the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pa., in July 1966, and then became a plans and programming officer in the Munitions Plans Branch at Headquarters U.S. Air Force.
From October 1968 to July 1969, General Kaericher was chief of the Nuclear Research and Development Branch, Atomic Energy Commission, at Germantown, Md. He then became assistant director for nuclear research and development for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in Washington, D.C.
After attending the Missile Maintenance and Operations Staff Officer Course at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., General Kaericher was assigned as vice commander, 341st Strategic Missile Wing, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., in October 1971 and assumed command in June 1972.
He became commander of the 44th Strategic Missile Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., in June 1973. General Kaericher served as deputy assistant director for Plans and Analysis Bureau, U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, Washington, D.C., from October 1973 to September 1976, when he became director of the Inter-American Defense College.
He is a command pilot with more than 4,000 flying hours and he wears the Missileman Badge. His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Commendation Medal, and Army Commendation Medal.
He was promoted to the grade of major general Aug. 1, 1975, with date of rank Nov. 1, 1972.
(Current as of October 1976)Department of the Air Force Logo