Lt. Col. John W. Blumentritt, a native of San Angelo, is a distinguished U.S. Air Force officer and pilot. During his twenty-one years of service, he has held numerous flying, staff, and command positions worldwide. He is a command pilot with over 3,000 flying hours in combat rescue and special operations aircraft. He also holds four master’s degrees.

After graduation and commissioning in 1983, and earning his pilot wings in 1985, he served as a helicopter pilot in Japan, Iceland, Alaska, Nevada, and Florida . He has flown many rescue and special operations missions worldwide, and earned the U.S. Air Force MacKay Trophy for commanding the most meritorious flight of a U.S. Air Force aircraft in 1994. During this mission, featured in the February 1999 issue of Reader’s Digest, he and his crew fought ocean waves of 30 feet and winds of 70 knots to rescue six Icelanders stranded on top of a battered ship in a storm.

He also served as a strategist in the Pentagon, where he and his team developed crisis response options and advocated for the effective employment of air and space power. He subsequently took this experience to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, and commanded a squadron that impacted 4000 cadets annually through 10 academic courses, airplanes, jet simulators, war gaming facilities, and a planetarium.

Lt. Col. Blumentritt is stationed at Randolph AFB near San Antonio. During this assignment, he served for two years on the personal staff of the Four-Star General in charge of Air Education and Training Command. As such, he directed a 12-person action group that orchestrated the efforts of 81,500 men and women in providing academic education to more than 130,000 people, training to about 250,000 students, and recruiting of over 36,000 officers and enlisted members into the U.S. Air Force per year. He now serves as the 19th Air Force Chief of Safety, where he leads mishap prevention programs for 31,000 people who are responsible for training over 20,000 aircrew members in 1,850 aircraft at 26 locations per year.

Lt. Col. Blumentritt is married to the former Darlene Becknell, ASU class of 1978 (ADN) and 1983 (BSN). They have one son, Christopher, and two daughters, Sonja and Ashley.