Retired BG Rodney D. Wolfe has made outstanding and significant personal and professional contributions to Army aviation since earning his wings in early 1960.

Wolfe's stellar military career included two combat tours in Vietnam in which he distinguished himself.

In 1965 he commanded the regimental aviation unit of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.

Then returning to combat in 1970, he commanded an Air Cav. Troop with the 3rd Squadron, 5th Cav. Regt. during the famous Operation Lam Son 719 into Laos.

During this tour, Wolfe received the Soldier's Medal for a daring rescue of five Soldiers in a dense fog while extremely low on fuel after a medical evacuation unit refused to fly the mission.

Later he commanded the 1st Sqdn., 9th Cav. Regt. at Fort Hood, Texas.

In 1981, while the commander of the 101st Aviation Group at Fort Campbell, Ky., Wolfe organized and trained the first night fighting unit capable of working with special operations forces.

This task force became the 160th Aviation Battalion, the forerunner of the now famous unit known around the world today as The Night Stalkers.

Coincident with this new paradigm of warfighting, he instituted night vision goggle flying capabilities into every level of aviation support within the 101st Airborne Division.

His last assignment before retirement in 1989 was a very successful tenure as the deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Aviation Center and Fort Rucker, Ala.

Here Wolfe had a direct and lasting impact on flight training transformation, as well as developing the infrastructure needed of a fledgling new Aviation Branch.