page_title: Richard Myers
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Richard Myers / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) General Richard B. Meyers and Secretary of the Air Force F. Whitten Peters pose for a photo at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.
context_page_description: Richard Bowman Myers is the 14th president of Kansas State University and a retired four-star general in the United States Air Force who served as the 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As Chairman, Myers was the highest ranking uniformed officer of the United States military forces.
  Myers became the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs on October 1, 2001. In this capacity, he served as the principal military advisor to the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council during the earliest stages of the War on Terror, including planning and execution of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. On September 30, 2005, he retired and was succeeded by General Peter Pace. His Air Force career included operational command and leadership positions in a variety of Air Force and Joint assignments.
  Myers began serving as the interim President of Kansas State University in late April 2016, and was announced as the permanent president on November 15, 2016.
context_section_description: Myers was born in Kansas City, Missouri. His father owned a hardware store and his mother was a homemaker. He graduated from Shawnee Mission North High School in 1960. He graduated from Kansas State University (KSU) with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering in 1965 where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He was commissioned by Detachment 270 of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps at KSU. He graduated from Auburn University at Montgomery with a Master of Business Administration in 1977. Myers has attended the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama; the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania; and the Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
  Myers entered the United States Air Force in 1965 through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program. He received pilot training from 1965 to 1966 at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. Myers is a command pilot with more than 4,100 flying hours in the T-33 Shooting Star, C-37, C-21, F-4 Phantom II, F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon, including 600 combat hours in the F-4. During his tenure as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Myers often flew official aircraft such as the Gulfstream C-37A and C-37B by himself during official trips. According to his 2009 autobiography (Eyes on The Horizon: Serving on the Front Lines of National Security), "one of the pleasures he had as both Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was to be able to sometimes fly on his required travels and stay pilot-qualified."
caption: General Richard B. Myers during his tenure as Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) with Secretary of the Air Force F. Whitten Peters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado on October 12th, 1998.
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