W. Raymond pointed to Saltzman's entrance to the weapons school as one of his defining qualities. "[If] you think about Salty, that's what I think of: as an instructor," said Raymond. "Just last week, we went out to Vandenberg... Two young captains briefed me on what they were doing, and then I continued the tour. And for about another 20 or 30 minutes, I was looking and I said, 'Where'd General Saltzman go?' Well, he was sitting down with those two captains teaching, and sitting down having a conversation, and helping them think through what they had just briefed, and helping them understand the importance of the work they were doing." Saltzman's other professional military education included attending Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, Air War College, National Security Space Institute, Center For Creative Leadership, National Defense University, Institute for Defense Business, and LeMay Center for Doctrine Development and Education. Military career Early Air Force career Saltzman commissioned into the United States Air Force on May 15, 1991, as a second lieutenant through Boston University’s Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program. After earning distinguished graduate honors from missile operational readiness training at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, he held numerous missile crew, instructor, and evaluator positions at Malmstrom Air Force Base, culminating in his selection as the senior evaluator crew commander at the 10th Strategic Missile Squadron and 341st Strategic Missile Wing. While assigned to the 341st Missile Wing, he competed in the inaugural Guardian Challenge Space Competition and led the team to the 1995 Blanchard Trophy for the best missile operations squadron. In 1996, Saltzman was selected for the Air Force Intern Program where he was assigned to Air Force office of the director of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and the Air Staff History Office. While on the Air Staff, he worked planning, programming and budgeting issues for the Information Warfare Panel, wrote higher headquarters inspection classification guidance for information operations and provided historical research for the chief of staff of the United States Air Force. In 1998, he was assigned to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Operating Division Four (OD-4). In OD-4, he served as flight commander, senior flight commander and mission planning flight commander responsible for planning and command and control of three NRO reconnaissance satellite constellations. He also served as the on-console launch officer and led