caption serviceyears branch commands birth_place allegiance awards birth_date rank image article_title name
general lance w. lord 1968-2006 united states air force 321st wing and western range 2nd air force air university air strategic force space command missile wing 90th missile wing 30th space philadelphia , pennsylvania united states of america air of merit -lrb- 3 -rrb- force distinguished service medal -lrb- 2 -rrb- legion 12 july 1946 general lance w lord.jpg lance w. lord
 lance w. lord
lance w. lord

general lance w. lord -lrb- born july 12 , 1946 -rrb- is a retired four-star general in the u.s. air force , and was the commander of air force space command at peterson air force base in colorado .
general lord entered the air force in 1969 as a graduate of the otterbein college rotc program after graduating from castle heights military academy , lebanon , tn in 1964 .
he completed a series of air staff and joint duty assignments in strategic missiles after serving four years of minuteman ii icbm alert duty .
he directed the ground-launched cruise missile program management office in europe .
he was a military assistant to the director of net assessment in the office of the secretary of defense and represented the air force as a research associate in international security affairs at ohio state university .
general lord commanded two icbm wings in wyoming and north dakota .
in california he commanded a space wing responsible for satellite launch and ballistic missile test launch operations .
he served as director of plans and as vice commander for headquarters air force space command .
the general led air force education and training as commandant of squadron officer school , commander of 2nd air force , commander of air university and director of education for air education and training command .
prior to assuming command of space command , he was the assistant vice chief of staff of the air force .
he retired on april 1 , 2006 .
in 2004 while serving as air force space command commander , general lance lord announced the introduction of a new space badge .
the new combined space and missile operations badge , informally known as `` spings '' -lrb- space wings -rrb- , `` space boomerang '' , or `` space blade '' replaced the missile badge for operators .
in addition , the new badge is no longer limited to pure space and missile operators/maintainers , but is also awarded to 61xx , 62xx and 63xx -lrb- officer -rrb- afscs who have performed space/icbm acquisition duties , even if they were non-operational in nature .
