Goodfellow AFB Commander Selected for Promotion to General

SAN ANGELO, TX — Colonel Michael Downs, commander of the 17^th Training Wing at Goodfellow Air Force Base was selected for the promotion to rank of Brigadier General this week.

Downs has commanded the wing at Goodfellow AFB since June 2015. There, he oversees the Department of Defense Fire Academy and multi-service intelligence technical training. The wing is responsible for training more than 14,400 firefighting and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance warriors annually for the United States Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, other government agencies, and allied nations.

Downs received his Bachelor of Political Science from Texas A&M University in College Station in 1992. He was an ROTC Distinguished Graduate and pinned on the gold bars of a Second Lieutenant in December 1992. He has held assignments at the squadron, Air and Space Operations Center, Major Command, Air Staff, Joint Staff and Office of the Secretary of Defense levels.

Colonel Downs has participated in 18 joint and combined operations and exercises in Central Command, European Command, Pacific Command, and Southern Command area of responsibilities and served in an array of capacities ranging from Director of Intelligence for a Joint Special Operations Task Force in the Balkans to the chief developer of the Joint Integrated Prioritized Target List during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Colonel Downs was among 36 colonels who were selected by the U.S. Air Force for promotion. President Donald Trump nominated Downs to the U.S. Senate this week. The promotion is pending Senate confirmation.