JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –
Members of Air Education and Training Command welcomed Chief Master Sgt. Chad Bickley as the new command chief for AETC July 28.
He is the senior enlisted advisor to the AETC commander and senior staff on all matters affecting the readiness, training, development, utilization, and resiliency of the command’s Airmen.
Bickley entered the Air Force in December 1993 and graduated from the Security Forces Apprentice Course at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, in May 1994. His background includes various positions throughout the career field including special duty assignments at the 820th Security Forces Group and the 615th Contingency Response Wing. In addition, he served five years as a master military training instructor at Air Force Basic Military Training.
His assignments include bases in North Carolina, Montana, Georgia, Texas, California and Idaho. The chief also served overseas in England and deployed in support of Operations SEA SIGNAL, SUPPORT JUSTICE IV, SOUTHERN WATCH, ENDURING FREEDOM, INHERENT RESOLVE, and several Joint Special Operation Command worldwide flyaway missions.
Bickley was previously the command chief for the Eighteenth Air Force at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. Chief Master Sgt. Erik C. Thompson retired July 28, after serving as the AETC command chief since August 2020 and in the Air Force since 1993.