Governor Pritzker has selected Illinois Air National Guard Director of Staff Colonel Steven B. Rice of Morrison, Illinois, as the next Assistant Adjutant General – Air of the Illinois National Guard.
With the selection, Colonel Rice will be promoted to Brigadier General and will serve as one of two Governor-appointed deputies to Major General Rodney Boyd, the Adjutant General of Illinois and Commander of the Illinois National Guard. The other deputy is Brigadier General Lenny Williams, the Assistant Adjutant General – Army. Col. Rice will replace Maj. Gen. Dan McDonough, who will retire after nearly 38 years of military service.
“Colonel Rice was an enlisted Airman for the first 15 years of his career, so he understands the Illinois Air National Guard from the ground-level up,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “His proven leadership abilities and years of technical Air Force experience make him an excellent choice to serve our state and the Illinois Air National Guard Airmen and their families in this role.”
Maj. Gen. Boyd said that Maj. Gen. McDonough has had an incredible impact on the Illinois Air National Guard, helping to usher in transformative changes such as standing up the Contingency Response Group and the new C-130Js at the 182nd Airlift Wing in Peoria. He also oversaw major construction and new missions in both the 183rd Wing in Springfield and the 126th Air Refueling Wing on Scott Air Force Base. All three wings have continued to excel in major inspections and support important exercises while adapting to meet the challenge posed by “near peer” competitors such as China.
“Colonel Rice is ready to take the reins of the Illinois Air National Guard as the Assistant Adjutant General,” said Maj. Gen. Boyd. “He has worked closely with me, Major General McDonough, and Illinois Air National Guard Chief of Staff Brigadier General Kevin Jacobs. We are all confident in Colonel Rice’s ability to help lead the Illinois Air National Guard as the National Guard and the Air Force transforms to meet future challenges.”
“I am honored to be selected as the next Assistant Adjutant General – Air of the Illinois National Guard,” said Col. Rice. “I’m grateful to the Governor, Major General Boyd, Major General McDonough, and Brigadier General Jacobs for their confidence in me. However, I’m most grateful to the fellow Airmen I have served with from 1986 on. I have received mentorship from Airmen, Noncommissioned Officers and Commissioned Officers from the day I first put on the U.S. Air Force uniform. It takes a community to build Air Force leaders.”
As the Director of the Illinois Air National Guard, Col. Rice oversaw the daily operations of the headquarters staff and directed activities of his staff members in the areas of strategic planning, policy implementation, personnel services, logistics, recruiting and retention, facilities, security and force protection, along with homeland security and homeland defense. Before being selected as the Director of Staff, Col. Rice served as the commander of the 182nd Mission Support Group, 182nd Airlift Wing, in Peoria, Illinois.
As the Assistant Adjutant General – Air, Col. Rice will be responsible for plans and programs affecting nearly 3,000 Illinois Air National Guard personnel at Scott Air Force Base, Peoria and Springfield, Illinois. His broad range of responsibilities will include ensuring combat readiness and mission capability of three major air bases comprised of flying wings, command and control facilities, logistics, and mission support units, while providing combat trained personnel to meet all the U.S. Air Force mission requirements. He will also supervise a full-time force of over 900 federal and state employees.
Col. Rice enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1986. Upon completing his initial active duty basic and technical training, he was assigned as a munitions systems specialist at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea. He was selected for a federal air technician position at the 182nd Fighter Group in 1992 and was assigned as the NCO in charge of missile maintenance. In 1994, he was selected as a flight engineer with the newly assigned C-130E aircraft, where he obtained his instructor and evaluator flight engineer ratings. Col. Rice obtained a commission in the Air National Guard in 2001, serving as commander of the 182nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and the 182nd Communications Flight before becoming the 182nd Maintenance Group commander in 2018.
He received a Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1991. He graduated from the U.S. Air Force’s Air War College in 2018.
Col. Rice deployed to Camp Dublin, Iraq, in 2008 in support of the NATO Training Mission – Iraq, where he helped the Italian Carabinieri train more than 2,500 Iraqi National Police. He is a lifetime member of both the National Guard Association of Illinois and the National Guard Association of the United States and served as the 182nd Airlift Wing director on the NGAI board. He is also a member of Lewistown Lodge 104 of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the American Legion Post 1 in Lewistown, Ill., and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5001 in Lewistown, Ill.
Col. Rice is married to Jenett Rice and the couple have four children and four grandchildren.
***Courtesy of the Illinois National Guard Facebook Page***
