Brigadier General Robert M. Branyon

Chief of Staff – Air

Brig. Gen. Robert M. Branyon is Chief of Staff of the Florida Air National Guard, St. Augustine, Fla. He is responsible for mission readiness, operations, and coordination of 11 Florida Air National Guard Units at seven Geographically Separated sites.

Brig. Gen. Branyon received his commission from the United States Air Force Academy upon graduation in June 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He then completed undergraduate pilot training at Williams Air Force Base, Phoenix, Ariz.

Branyon served his first operational fighter tour at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., as an Instructor Pilot in the F-4 Phantom. He was then selected to be a USAF Aggressor Pilot, assigned to Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Upon graduation from the USAF Adversary Tactics School in 1987, he received both the Top Gun award and the Distinguished Graduate Award. As an F-5 Tiger II Aggressor Instructor Pilot, he traveled throughout the country training U.S. fighter pilots on how to battle potential enemy fighter aircraft. In 1988, he received the Tactical Air Command Instructor Pilot of the Year award. Transitioning to the F-16 Fighting Falcon in 1989, he flew the F-16 for two years as an Instructor Pilot before joining the Florida Air National Guard in 1991. As an F-16 pilot in the159th Fighter Squadron, he authored the squadron’s first ever Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) playbook and distributed the document to US fighter units throughout the southeast, which allowed the squadron to train against realistic enemy fighter threats. Four years later, the 159th Fighter Squadron transitioned to the F-15 Eagle. Branyon became a flight commander and was the Wing project officer for the unit’s deployment to Iceland, its first overseas deployment since the Korean War. Branyon next became the 125th Maintenance Group Commander, and served later as the Wing vice-commander and Wing commander. In 2010, Branyon served as Commander of Air Force Forces for the Wing’s deployment to Saudi Arabia for exercise Falcon Nest. During the exercise, the Wing integrated with the Royal Saudi Air Force for Air Superiority Large Force Employment missions utilizing advanced Fighter Data Link joint-force integration.

He was promoted to brigadier general and became Chief of Staff of the Florida Air National Guard in January 2011.