Maj. Gen. Mark Solo
Mark S. Solo has been promoted to the rank of major general in the U.S. Air Force.
He is commander of the 618th Tanker Airlift Control Center at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. In this position, Solo is responsible for planning, scheduling and directing a fleet of more than 1,200 aircraft in support of combat delivery and strategic airlift, air refueling and aeromedical operations worldwide.
With more than 29 years of military service, Solo has had assignments that have taken him to such places as California, Illinois, Washington state, Florida, Delaware, Oklahoma, Kuwait and Washington, D.C.
A command pilot with close to 5,000 flying hours in various cargo and refueling aircraft, Solo has held positions ranging from pilot to protocol officer, chief of officer retention, safety chief, operations officer and deputy commander. He has commanded an airlift squadron, an operations group and an air mobility wing. As a senior leader, he has been assigned as a deputy chief for political-military affairs for a joint command, chief of mobility for the Joint Staff in the Pentagon and as deputy chief for air, space and information operations for the Air Mobility Command.
Solo is the son of Mark J. and Virginia Solo of East Hubert Road, Spruce, Mich., and the brother of Cheryl A. Solo of Sibley Road, Trenton, Mich. He is the son-in-law of Dorothy G. Hocking of Oakmont Drive, Fort Myers.
Solo is a 1974 graduate of Riverview High School in Michigan. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University in 1978 and a master’s degree from Webster’s University in St. Louis in 1988.
His awards include three awards of the Defense Superior Service Medal, two awards of the Legion of Merit, four awards of the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal, the Aerial Achievement Medal and the Army Commendation Medal.