 Brown returned to the United States where he assumed command of the <unk> Pilot Training Wing at Williams Air Force Base , Arizona , on 6 June 1953 . He entered the National War College in August 1956 . It was the first and only service school he attended after graduating from West Point . After graduation in June 1957 , he served as executive to the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force , General Thomas D. White . Brown was promoted to brigadier general in August 1959 . He was selected to be military assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense , Thomas S. Gates Jr . , and then to the new Secretary of Defense , Robert MacNamara , with the rank of major general . 
