President Donald Trump’s new nominee for the highest military officer in the land earned his stars through a long storied career ascending the rank and file all the way to being one of Trump’s top allies.
Ret. Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin’” Caine is set to replace Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff pending confirmation by the Senate. Service members who trained, taught and fought alongside him throughout his career told the Daily Caller News Foundation that he is qualified for the role, in character and in capabilities.
James Rennan, former pilot for the 149th Lone Star Gunfighters, joined Caine on a mission to an undisclosed location during the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, with the objective to destroy “SCUD” missile sites. Caine was an instrumental part in the mission’s success, as the pilots were relatively inexperienced with the novel configuration used for the mission, and the F-16’s limitations as a jet.
“That was a pretty complex mission for the F-16. Partially because of our speeds, we were getting used to new targeting pods, night vision goggles, all this kind of stuff. And although most of us were proficient F-16 pilots, very few guys have the discipline to be the resident expert, and it became evident Raisin’ was the smartest guy in the room,” Rennan told the DCNF. “He could hang out on the pro level, very relatable, very friendly, but like when he spoke, he was our subject matter expert on power. SCUD was a mission that none of us had really flown.”
Caine began his military career after training in the Air National Guard, flying in the 138th fighter squadron out of Syracuse Air Force Base from 1994 to 1998. He then transferred to Andrews Air Force Base in the Washington, D.C., area.
“He always kept striving for more and striving for perfection,” Ret. Col. Gary Atkin, Caine’s former flight instructor in Tucson, Arizona, told the DCNF. “There’s guys that sit around the squadron and drink beer, and then there’s other guys that keep trying to do more stuff, you know. So that was Dan. He was working on the test center out in Tucson, going to fighter weapons school, he was always kind of looking for all of these other things.”
