Indian Orange Flight suit 1970's
Commander - SAC Fighter Pilot

Chain was born December 11, 1934 in Wilmington, Delaware. He accrued over 5,000 flying hours (including 400 combat hours) in more than 45 different military aircraft. He is a master parachutist with 66 jumps, and has been awarded the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Bronze Star.

Chain was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program. He received his pilot wings in 1957 and then entered combat crew training. He served as an F-100 Super Sabre pilot at Toul-Rosieres Air Base in France (1958-1959)and at Ramstein Air Base in West Germany (1959-1962); flight examiner at Cannon Air Force Base; forward air controller in Fort Campbell, Kentucky (1964).

While there he became a master parachutist and flew Army O-1s and Air National Guard F-84 Thunderjets. In 1966 Chain flew combat missions while assigned to Tan Son Nhut Air Base in South Vietnam.

He then transferred to Washington, D.C. and was an exchange officer with the U.S. Department of State (1969-1970). He entered the National War College in 1970 and upon graduation was assigned to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona as deputy commander for operations.

In 1972 he became deputy commander for logistics. In 1972 and 1973, Chain flew combat missions in F-4 Phantoms from Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand.

Upon his return to the United States in he served as deputy commander for operations at George Air Force Base (1973); vice commander at Nellis Air Force Base, where he flew as an aggressor pilot (1974); director of fighter and reconnaissance operations, Tactical Air Command at Langley Air Force Base (1975); military assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force (1978); director of operations at Air Force headquarters (1980); deputy chief of staff for plans and operations (1982); director of the Bureau of Politico Military Affairs for the Department of State (1984-1985); chief of staff for Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Belgium.

In 1986 he became commander in chief of Strategic Air Command, where he oversaw the LGM-118A Peacekeeper (MX-missile) operations for the Reagan Administration.

He retired from the military on January 31, 1991.