RAF MILDENHALL, England — The former deputy director of operations at U.S. Central Command is set to become the vice commander of the 3rd Air Force.

Brig. Gen. Jack B. Egginton, who has been nominated for a second star, was named deputy at 3rd Air Force, according to an Air Force news release issued Monday.

The F-16 pilot will return to England for a second tour in his 30-year career. He served as the chief of the operations division at 3rd Air Force from August 1998 to November 1999, according to Egginton’s Air Force biography.

The 1977 University of Utah graduate was also a National Security Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Egginton also served from July 2003 to August 2004 as the commander of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, which included more than 90 combat aircraft and 6,000 personnel.

1st AD to get new deputy commanderThe 1st Armored Division will get a new deputy commander before it deploys to Iraq this fall.

Col. Tony Thomas III was nominated by the Army to fill one of the two deputy commanding general spots in the Wiesbaden, Germany-based division on Monday. He’s also been nominated to receive his first star. The moves are contingent on Senate approval.

Thomas, currently chief of staff of Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., is expected to arrive in country later this month.

He’ll join Brig. Gen. James Boozer as one of the two deputies to the division commander, Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling.

The division is set to deploy to northern Iraq sometime in the fall.

Thomas had previously been selected as deputy commander for the U.S. Army Cadet Command before the re-assignment.

Brig. Gen. Dennis Rogers had originally been selected to take the 1st AD post in March.

Brig. Gen. David Hogg left the post to become commander of the U.S. Army Europe’s Joint Multinational Training Command.

Migrated