General James P. Mullins Speech Collection (MS-546)

Leo Finkelstein, Jr., was born in 1946. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1968; a master’s from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1969; and a Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York in 1978. His military experience includes: commanding a combat-documentation photographic unit in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War; directing the technical writing program at the U.S. Air Force Academy; and serving in positions related to both space and logistics. During the early 1980s, Finkelstein served as Special Assistant to the Commander, Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC), headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He was later a Lecturer and Director of Technical Communication for the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Wright State University.

General James P. Mullins served as commander of the Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC), with headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, from July 30, 1981, until his retirement on November 1, 1984. The Command mission was to provide worldwide technical logistics support to all Air Force active and reserve force activities, military assistance program countries, and designated U.S. government agencies. (On July 1, 1992, AFLC and Air Force Systems Command were merged to form the Air Force Materiel Command, also located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.)

James P. Mullins was born in 1928 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He received a bachelor of arts degree in business administration from the University of Omaha in 1964 and a master of science degree in international affairs from George Washington University in 1967. He attended the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, in 1967 and the advanced management program at Harvard University’s School of Business Administration in 1972.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1946. General Mullins entered pilot training as an aviation cadet in 1948 and graduated in 1949 with a commission as a second lieutenant. He was assigned to the 2nd Air Refueling Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., where he flew KB-29M's, the Strategic Air Command's first aerial tanker.

During the Korean War General Mullins participated in combat evaluation of in-flight refueling systems for fighter aircraft while assigned to the Far East Air Forces Bomber Command at Yokota Air Base, Japan. In January 1953 he returned to the United States and was assigned to the 9th Air Refueling Squadron, initially at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, and later moving with the unit to Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.

In July 1954 General Mullins entered aircraft observer/bombardier training at James Connally Air Force Base, Texas, in preparation for an assignment in January 1955 to the 96th Bombardment Wing at Altus Air Force Base, Okla., as a B-47 aircraft commander. He moved with the wing in 1957 to Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, and served as a B-47 aircraft commander and an air training officer until September 1961. He was then assigned to SAC headquarters, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., as the B/RS-70 requirements officer in the Requirements Division, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations. He attended the Air War College from August 1966 to July 1967 and then completed RF-4C combat crew training.

He transferred to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, in August 1968 where he served with the 460th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing on consecutive assignments as detachment commander, tactical squadron commander and assistant deputy commander for operations. He completed 110 combat missions in RF-4Cs.

General Mullins was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., in August 1969 in the Directorate of Operational Requirements and Development Plans, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Research and Development, where he served as chief of the Aircraft Division. In June 1973 he become vice commander, Ogden Air Materiel Area (later renamed Air Logistics Center), Air Force Logistics Command, Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

The general was assigned as deputy chief of staff for acquisition logistics, Air Force Logistics Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in March 1975. He was reassigned within the command staff as deputy chief of staff for plans and operations in May 1975. This organization was renamed Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs in August 1975. He then returned to Hill Air Force Base as commander of the Ogden Air Logistics Center in August 1977. In November 1978 General Mullins took command of 15th Air Force at March Air Force Base, California.

General Mullins assumed command of the Air Force Logistics Command in July 1981. General Mullins was promoted to general Aug. 1, 1981, with same date of rank. He retired as AFLC Commander, and from the U.S. Air Force, on November 1, 1984.

General Mullins has more than 6,000 flying hours. His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, and Air Force Outstanding Unit Award ribbon with "V" device and one oak leaf cluster.

[The biographical sketch for Dr. Leo Finkelstein, Jr., was drawn primarily from the “About the Author” segment of Finkelstein’s book, Pocket Book of Technical Writing for Engineers and Scientists (McGraw-Hill, 2008). The biographical sketch of General James P. Mullins has been reprinted, with few edits, from his official U.S. Air Force biography, available here: https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/106120/general-james-p-mullins/.]