Major General Joseph B. Dodds

US Air Force Military Biographies, Annual, 2004

MAJOR GENERAL JOSEPH B. DODDS

Retired July 1, 1980.

Major General Joseph B. Dodds is the auditor general of the Air Force and commander of the Air Force Audit Agency, Norton Air Force Base, Calif.

General Dodds was born in Belle Fourche, S.D., in 1924. He graduated from University High School in Eugene, Ore., in 1942. He earned a bachelor of science degree in mathematics from the University of Oregon in 1950 and a master's degree in public administration from The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., in 1963. He is a graduate of the Air Command and Staff College and the Army War College.

General Dodds' military career began in March 1943 when he entered aviation cadet training at Sheppard Field, Texas. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and awarded his pilot wings in June 1944.

His first assignment was with the Air Training Command as an instructor pilot at Marfa Army Airfield, Texas. From December 1946 to July 1951, he served as a Reserve pilot at Portland International Airport, Portland, Ore. He was recalled to active duty in 1951 and went to Alaska, where he was a pilot with the 5039th Air Base Wing at Elmendorf Air Force Base. His next assignment was as a pilot with the 8th Air Division at McClellan Air Force Base, Calif., in August 1954.

In March 1958 General Dodds was assigned to Hamilton Air Force Base, Calif., as chief of the Budget Requirements Division, Headquarters Western Air Defense Force. He remained there until July 1959 when he went to Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, for duty as budget officer, first with Headquarters 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing and later, with the 49th Air Base Group and the 49th Tactical Fighter Wing.

General Dodds entered the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in September 1962 and was a distinguished graduate in June 1963. From July 1963 to June 1967, he was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., as a programs officer in the Program Management Division, Directorate of Data Automation, Office of the Comptroller of the Air Force.

During a tour of duty in the Republic of Vietnam from June 1967 to June 1968, General Dodds logged 255 combat missions and 505 combat flying hours as a flight commander and operations officer with the 9th Air Commando Squadron first at Pleiku Air Base and then at Nha Trang Air Base.

He was assigned in August 1968 as chief of the Data Automation Division, Headquarters Ogden Air Materiel Area, Hill Air Force Base, Utah. A year later he entered the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pa. Following his graduation in 1970, he served first as director of budget, and later as comptroller of the Aerospace Defense Command at Ent Air Force Base, Colo. In July 1973 he assumed the dual role of comptroller of the Aerospace Defense Command and comptroller of the North American Air Defense Command.

General Dodds became deputy chief of staff, comptroller, Air Training Command Oct. 1, 1974. He assumed his present duties May 14, 1976.

He is a command pilot with 4,534 flying hours. His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal with nine oak leaf clusters and Air Force Commendation Medal with three oak leaf clusters. From the Republic of Vietnam he received the Armed Forces Honor Medal 1st Class, Gallantry Cross with palm and the Air Service Medal Honor Class.

General Dodds was promoted to major general June 1, 1979, with date of rank Sept. 1, 1975.

His hometown is Eugene, Ore.

(Current as of September 1979)