| Leon Scott Rice | |
| Nickname: | "Catfish"[1] |
| Birth Date: | 1958 5, df=y |
| Allegiance: | United States |
| Branch: | United States Air Force |
| Serviceyears: | 1980–2020 |
| Rank: | Lieutenant General |
| Commands: | United States Air National Guard Massachusetts National Guard Massachusetts Air National Guard |
| Battles: | Kosovo War Iraq War |
| Awards: | Air Force Distinguished Service Medal Legion of Merit Bronze Star Medal |
| Laterwork: | Pilot for United Airlines |
Lieutenant General Leon Scott Rice (born 27 May 1958) is a former director of the Air National Guard.[2] [3] He previously served as The Adjutant General (TAG) and Commander of the Massachusetts National Guard and as an assistant to Gen Mark A. Welsh III, former commander of the United States Air Forces in Europe. Rice has also served as commander of USAF Forces deployed for United States Central Command in the Middle East Area of Operations. He is a Boeing 777 first officer flying for United Airlines (though currently on a military leave of absence) in Washington Dulles International Airport.[4] [5] On 3 April 2012 he was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick as The Adjutant General (TAG) of the Massachusetts National Guard and reappointed as The Adjutant General by Governor Charles Baker on 12 May 2015. Rice retired from the U.S. Air Force on 1 August 2020 after over 40 years of service.
Rice was born 27 May 1958 to Leon Harold Rice (1919–2002) and Margery Ann (Miller) Rice (1918–2005) in Bedford, New Hampshire; a military family with his mother serving as a captain during WWII in the Army Nurse Corps, and eventually becoming in 1990 a Commander of the Department of New Hampshire Veterans of Foreign Wars.[6] Rice is a direct descendant of Edmund Rice, an early immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony.[7] Rice attended local public schools and earned the rank of Eagle Scout in 1972.
Rice was the director of the Air National Guard, The Pentagon, Washington, D.C. He is responsible for formulating, developing and coordinating all policies, plans and programs affecting more than 105,500 Guard members and civilians in more than 90 wings and 175 geographically separated units across 213 locations throughout the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands.
Rice was commissioned in 1980 through the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York and graduated from undergraduate pilot training at Reese Air Force Base, Texas in 1982. He is a command pilot with more than 4,300 hours in the F-111 and A-10. Before assuming his current position, General Rice served as The Adjutant General of the Massachusetts National Guard, responsible for commanding units of the Air and Army National Guard.
He has served in various operational and staff assignments, including commander of US Air Force Forces deployed to Middle East locations under the United States Central Command; where, from 1995 to 2006, he was mobilized and deployed to Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, and Pakistan. He has commanded a squadron, operations group, and fighter wing. He previously served as the assistant adjutant general for air, and commander of Massachusetts Air National Guard, chairman of the Air Guard Force Structure and Modernization committee of the Adjutants General Association of the United States (AGAUS), as the association's secretary, as a member of the Reserve Forces Policy Board for the Department of Defense, and has served on several General Officer Steering Committees for the National Guard.
Rice was nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and assignment as director of the Air National Guard by Barack Obama on 4 April 2016. This nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate on 28 April 2016.[8] He assumed the position of Director of the Air National Guard on 10 May 2016.[2] In August 2020, Colorado National Guard Adjutant General Michael A. Loh succeeded Rice as director.[9]
1980 Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering, Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York
1981 Master of Science in Industrial Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York
2000 Air War College, by correspondence
2009 Harvard University, National and International Security Studies, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2009 George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
2010 George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
2010 Capstone Military Leadership Program, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, District of Columbia
2011 Senior Reserve Component Officer Course, Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania
2011 Combined Force Air Component Commanders Course, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama
2011 Harvard University, National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, [Cambridge, Massachusetts]
2012 Syracuse University, National Security Studies, [Syracuse, New York]
2015 Harvard University, National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, [Cambridge, Massachusetts]
1972 Eagle Scout
2005 George W. Bush Award for Leadership in the Guard/Reserve
| Lieutenant general | May 4, 2016 | |
| Major general | December 23, 2010 | |
| Brigadier general | July 24, 2007 | |
| Colonel | June 15, 2003 | |
| Lieutenant colonel | September 9, 1998 | |
| Major | November 18, 1992 | |
| Captain | November 18, 1984 | |
| First lieutenant | November 18, 1982 | |
| Second lieutenant | May 17, 1980 | |