Colonel Jason C. Gale serves as the Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA) to the Wing Commander for the 377th Air Base Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, NM. He serves as the senior reservist on the Air Force’s fifth largest base that provides operations, security, maintenance, medical care, and mission support for 9 wings, 108 mission partners, and over 23,000 military and civilian employees. The wing provides highly trained forces supporting the nuclear enterprise and expeditionary combat forces to combatant commanders as well as host the nation’s largest underground maintenance storage facility that houses over 60% of the Air Force Protection Level One assets. The 377th Air Base Wing also operates the United States' only dedicated Intercontinental Ballistic Missile test organization for current and future capabilities of the nation's force. Elite weapons and tactics development and missile test launches are developed and executed locally and at geographically separated locations in Utah and California.
Colonel Gale entered the Air Force in June of 1995 at Vandenberg AFB in support of the US anti–missile defense program. His last active duty assignment was for the Airborne Laser program, where he worked on the highly specialized Argus aircraft to determine the effectiveness of future airborne lasers. His first reserve assignment was at the Satellite Operations Test and Evaluation branch at Kirtland AFB, where he was responsible for training personnel on the control of new satellites and existing on–orbit satellites. His most recent reserve assignment was at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency where he trained military and civilian personnel on nuclear weapons, radiation, and radiation effects.
Colonel Gale’s current civilian occupation is at Sandia National Labs where he designs communication electronics for hypervelocity systems. In his civilian career, he has served in various leadership roles preparing electrical components for weapon systems including the B61–12, W80–3, and W80–4. He has also served in a cybersecurity role, providing hardware cybersecurity support on several high consequence systems and receiving classified inventor’s awards for his work.
EDUCATION
1995 Bachelor of Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
1998 Master of Science degree, Electrical and Computer Engineering, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California
2004 Squadron Officer School, by correspondence
2008 Air Command and Staff College, by correspondence
2015 Air War College, by correspondence
ASSIGNMENTS
1. June 1995 – February 1997, Payload Test Engineer, Space and Missile System Center Det. 9, Vandenberg AFB, CA
2. February 1997 – June 1998, Launch Systems Test Engineer, Space and Missile System Center Det. 9, Vandenberg AFB, CA
3. June 1998 – December 1998, Lead Test Engineer, Spacelift, Space and Missile System Center Det. 9, Vandenberg AFB, CA
4. January 1999 – March 2001, Flight Test Engineer, Air Force Research Lab, Kirtland AFB, NM
5. March 2001 – October 2001, Space Based Laser Control Systems Engineer, Air Force Research Lab, Kirtland AFB, NM
6. October 2001 – October 2010, Chief Satellite Operations Test & Evaluation, Space Test Squadron, Kirtland AFB, NM
7. October 2010 – July 2011, Developmental Engineer, Space Test Squadron, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico
8. July 2011 – September 2014, Deputy Chief, Course Management, Defense Nuclear Weapon School, Kirtland AFB, NM
9. September 2014 – June 2019, Deputy Chief, Reserve Component, Defense Nuclear Weapon School, Kirtland AFB, NM
10. June 2019 – March 2022, Chief, Reserve Component, Defense Nuclear Weapon School, Kirtland AFB, NM
11. March 2022 – present, IMA to the Commander, 377th Air Base Wing, Kirtland AFB, NM
MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters
Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster
Air Force Achievement Medal with two oak leaf clusters
PUBLICATIONS
Patent #16/150,668: Systems and Methods for FPGA–Based Data and Address Obfuscation in Computing Systems
EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
Second Lieutenant, May 20, 1995
First Lieutenant, May 20, 1997
Captain, May 20, 1999
Major, June 1, 2005
Lieutenant Colonel, October 1, 2012
Colonel, June 1, 2019
(Current as of July 2023)