Lieutenant General Buster Cleveland Glosson (born March 14, 1942) was the deputy chief of staff for plans and operations at the headquarters of the United States Air Force (USAF) in Washington D.C. He was responsible to the secretary of the Air Force and chief of staff for the planning, operations, requirements and force structure necessary to support military operations. As the USAF operations deputy to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he determined operational requirements, concepts, doctrine, strategy, training and the assets necessary to support national security objectives and military strategy.

Education

He received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University in 1965. He attended the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1977 and the National War College at Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., in 1981.

Career

Glosson entered the USAF in 1965 as a distinguished graduate of the North Carolina State University Reserve Officer Training Corps program. He flew combat missions as a flight commander in both North and South Vietnam. He commanded the 414th Fighter Weapons Squadron and two tactical fighter wings. During the Gulf War, he commanded the 14th Air Division (Provisional) and was director of campaign plans for U.S. Central Command Air Forces (USCENTAF), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In this function, he was responsible for planning the bombardment of Baghdad on January 17, 1991, that resulted in the near total destruction of the Iraqi command and control structure within the first hours of the air campaign. The Amiriyah shelter bombing on February 13 that year, that killed over 400 Iraqi civilians, was also carried out under his responsibility. He is a command pilot with more than 3,600 flying hours primarily in the F-4, F-15C and F-15E. Glosson retired on July 1, 1994. After his retirement, Glosson wrote a book titled War with Iraq: critical lessons about the Gulf War and the lessons that in his view can be learned from it.

Assignments

Flight information

Glosson is rated as a Command pilot with more than 3,600 flight hours having flown: F-4, F-5, F-15C, F-15E and T-38.

Major awards and decorations

Publication

Promotion dates