AAFES gets new chairman

The Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) announced that Lt. Gen. Samuel D. Cox will serve as chairman of the exchange’s board of directors effective immediately.

Cox was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel and Services on Nov. 5, and will replace Lt. Gen. Darrell Jones, who served as chairman of the Exchange board of directors since April 2013 and retired from the Air Force on Nov. 21.

As deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services, headquarters U.S. Air Force, General Cox serves as the senior Air Force officer responsible for comprehensive plans and policies covering all life cycles of military and civilian personnel management.

Prior to his current assignment, General Cox was director of operations and plans, United States Transportation Command, Scott Air Force Base, Ill. He was responsible for directing the deployment of forces and the distribution of supplies and equipment for humanitarian, peacetime and wartime operations for the Department of Defense, including joint training, exercises and war planning.

General Cox graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in May 1984. Following undergraduate pilot training, he served as a C-141 special operations low level II flight examiner aircraft commander, airdropping the initial insertion force into Panama for Operation Just Cause. General Cox has flown in support of multiple combat operations, including Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Allied Force and has served as a squadron commander and a wing commander. His other assignments include deputy executive secretary in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Commandant of Cadets, U.S. Air Force Academy.