Alfred K . Flowers Alfred K . Flowers ( born December 29 , 1947 ) is a retired United States Air Force Major General who served in many roles , culminating as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget . At the time of his retirement , Flowers had served more than 46 years on active duty , making him the longest - serving airman in Air Force history and the longest serving African American in the history of the United States Department of Defense . Prior to his retirement , the enlisted members of Air Education and Training Command presented Flowers with the Order of the Sword , the Air Force enlisted force ’ s highest honor for officer leadership . Early life . Flowers was born in Jones County , North Carolina on 29 December 1947 . He was raised in rural Jones County near Phillips Crossroads . At the age of ten , he started working in the fields with his grandparents , who were sharecroppers . He graduated from Jones High School in 1965 . Flowers could not afford to attend college so after graduating , he decided to enlist in the Air Force . Because he was only seventeen , his grandmother had to sign a release allowing him to enlist . Flowers entered the Air Force on 5 August 1965 . Enlisted service . After completing basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio , Texas , Flowers was assigned to duty as a supply warehouseman at Grand Forks Air Force Base , North Dakota . After two years at Grand Forks , he was retransferred into the air transportation career field and sent to Da Nang Air Base , Republic of Vietnam . At Da Nang , Flowers was responsible for collecting casualties , hauling wounded and deceased soldiers out of the jungle at night . When his tour in Vietnam was completed , Flowers was reassigned at Norton Air Force Base , California . While at Norton , he met his wife , who was also serving in the Air Force . Two weeks after they were married , she was transferred to Clark Air Base in the Philippines . Six months later , Flower secured a joint - spouse assignment at Clark . During his tour in the Philippines , Flowers began working toward a college degree . When he returned from his overseas assignment , Flower was retrained as an accounting specialist and assigned to Lackland Air Force Base and then to Charleston Air Force Base , South Carolina . When he completed his bachelor ' s degree in 1975 , Flowers applied for Air Force Officer Training School and was accepted . Shortly after his acceptance , his wife ( who was still enlisted ) was reassigned to Iraklion Air Base in Greece . Because there was no guarantee of a joint assignment after officer training , he gave up his officer training slot and went with his family to Greece . In 1976 , Flowers finished his master ' s degree and re - applied to the officer training ; however , his application was denied . He applied again in 1977 and was denied again . In the meantime , he was reassigned to Travis Air Force Base , California and select for promotion to master sergeant , the Air Force ' s third highest enlisted grade . While he was waiting to pin on his new rank , he applied for officer training once again . This time he was accepted . Air Force officer . In 1978 , Flowers was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the financial management career field . His first officer assignment was at Moody Air Force Base , Georgia . During that three year tour Flowers served as deputy accounting and finance officer , then accounting and finance officer , and finally as the base ’ s budget officer . He then went to headquarters Tactical Air Command at Langley Air Force Base , Virginia , serving as a command level budget officer for three years . In July 1985 , Flowers was selected for an assignment at Air Force headquarters in The Pentagon . He served three years there , first as a budget officer and the as an executive officer . He attended the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk , Virginia from July 1989 until January 1990 . After graduating from that joint military education program , he was assigned to headquarters Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base , as chief of the command ’ s Budget Operations Division . In August 1993 , Flowers was selected to attend the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Fort Lesley J . McNair in Washington , receiving a Master of Science degree from the college in June 1994 . This was followed by a budget officer assignment in the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon . In December 1996 , Flowers was again assigned to headquarters Air Combat Command , where he served as the command ’ s budget chief . During the assignment , he was promoted to colonel . In June 1999 , Flowers returned to the Pentagon for another tour , this time as director of Budget Programs in the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller . Three years later , he was sent to headquarters Air Education and Training Command at Randolph Air Force Base , Texas as the command ’ s comptroller . He was then assigned to headquarters United States Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base , Florida . While at MacDill , he was promoted to brigadier general . Flowers took command of the Air Force Officer Accession and Training Schools in January 2007 . He served as the organization ' s commander until May 2008 . During that tour , Flowers was promoted to major general . Flowers was then transferred to Keesler Air Force Base , Mississippi where he took command of 2nd Air Force . In October 2009 , he returned to the Pentagon for his final assignment . He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget until his retirement on 1 January 2012 . During this tour , he was responsible for planning and executing a $ 119 billion annual budget that financed all Air Force operations including support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan . Flowers also served on the board of directors for Army and Air Force Exchange Service and the Air Force Aid Society . Prior to his retirement , Flowers was awarded the Order of the Sword , the Air Force enlisted force ’ s highest honor for officer leadership . Several hundred people attend the Order of the Sword ceremony held at the Pentagon ’ s " Airman Hall " . At the time of his retirement , Flowers was the longest serving active duty member in Air Force history . He was also the longest serving African American in the history of the United States Department of Defense . His retirement ceremony was held at on 16 November 2011 at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington . The Secretary of the Air Force , Michael B . Donley and the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller , Jamie M . Morin both attended his retirement ceremony . Retirement . The effective date of his retirement was 1 January 2012 . After retiring from the Air Force , Flowers and his wife moved to San Antonio , where he works with military and veterans groups as a volunteer and a speaker . He also helped develop an enlisted heritage museum . According to Flowers , when he experiences military withdrawal pains , he visits Lackland Air Force Base to watch 700 new airmen march in their basic training graduation parade . The following sections are from a single Public Domain source .