Michael Edward Ryan (born December 24, 1941) is a retired United States Air Force general and was the 16th Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from October 1997 to September 2001. He served as the senior uniformed Air Force officer responsible for the organization, training and equipage of 700,000 active-duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian forces serving in the United States and overseas. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he and the other service chiefs functioned as military advisers to the Secretary of Defense, National Security Council and the President. Military career Born in San Antonio, Texas in 1941, Ryan entered the U.S. Air Force after graduating from the United States Air Force Academy in 1965; he was a graduate of Omaha Creighton Prep High School. Ryan's father, General John Dale Ryan, was the 7th Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, from 1969 to 1973. He flew combat missons in Southeast Asia, including 100 missions over North Vietnam in F-4 Phantom II, as part of the 13th Tactical Fighter Squadron based at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand from October 1967 to August 1968. He went through Squadron Officer School in 1969 and the Fighter Weapons Instructor Course at United States Air Force Fighter Weapons School during 1970. From 1971 to 1973, Ryan served as an exchange officer with the Royal Australian Air Force flying the Mirage III. He attended Air Command and Staff College and earned an MBA from Auburn University in 1976. Ryan went to the National War College in 1984. During 1988, Ryan partook in the National Security Program at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Over his career, Ryan held command at the squadron, wing, numbered air force and major command levels. He also served in staff assignments at the major command level, and in the Pentagon on both the Air Staff and the Joint Staff. His first assignment as a lieutenant general in 1993 was as the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the duties of which encompassed being the senior military liaison over at the U.S. Department of State and travelling overseas with the Secretary of State. As Commander of Sixteenth Air Force at Aviano Air Base and Allied Air Forces Southern Europe in Naples, from 1994 to 1996, Lieutenant General Ryan directed the NATO air combat