Biography
Chief Benken was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and entered the Air Force in March 1970. His background was in information management. He served in operational, maintenance and support units at every level of command from squadron through Major Command (MAJCOM). Chief Benken served in Taiwan, Korea, and South Vietnam, and in a joint service (NATO) assignment at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). He served as Senior Enlisted Advisor to 12th Air Force and United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). While at USAFE, the command was involved in operations such as Provide Promise, Provide Comfort, Deliberate Force, and Joint Endeavor in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Of interesting note, when Chief Benken entered the Air Force the Chief of Staff was General John D. Ryan. While serving as the CMSAF, he was the advisor to his son, General Michael E. Ryan. As CMSAF, Chief Benken's many initiatives included the development of the Command Chief Master Sergeant title (previously Senior Enlisted Advisor) and creation of a distinctive insignia; the implementation of Warrior Week at Basic Military Training; the successful fight against congressional efforts to interfere with gender integrated training at Basic Military Training; fought for repeal of the 1986 40% retirement and creation of the NCO Professional Development Seminar. During his tenure as CMSAF, the Air Force continued the Bosnian peacekeeping mission, Operations Northern and Southern Watch in Iraq, Operation Desert Fox (Iraq) and Operation Allied Force in Kosovo.
The Chief continues to travel at the invitation of the Air Force while employed at USAA in San Antonio, Tx.
CMSAF Benken served as the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force from November 1996 to July 1999.
Read more about this topic: Eric W. Benken
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“The death of Irving, which at any other time would have attracted universal attention, having occurred while these things were transpiring, went almost unobserved. I shall have to read of it in the biography of authors.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A great biography should, like the close of a great drama, leave behind it a feeling of serenity. We collect into a small bunch the flowers, the few flowers, which brought sweetness into a life, and present it as an offering to an accomplished destiny. It is the dying refrain of a completed song, the final verse of a finished poem.”
—André Maurois (1885–1967)
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)