Colonel
Charles R. Myers
Permanent Professor 1995–2000
B.A., Tulane University
M.A., University of Texas at Austin
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
J.D., University of California, Berkeley
Charlie Myers, the Academy’s 60th Permanent Professor, was born in Carlsbad, New Mexico, in 1945. He attended Florida State University for the 1963–1964 school year before transferring to Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. His time at Tulane included a term at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Charlie received his Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and History from Tulane in 1967, where he was a Distinguished Graduate of Air Force ROTC. Receiving Woodrow Wilson and National Defense Education Act Fellowships, he was granted an educational delay to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where he was awarded the Master’s degree in Philosophy in 1969 and the PhD degree in Philosophy in 1975. Entering active duty in 1970, Charlie received intelligence officer training at Lowry AFB, CO, and then served as an Intelligence Officer at Da Nang Air Base, Vietnam, 1970–1971, and Bergstrom AFB, TX, 1971–1973. His next assignment was to the Academy’s Department of Political Science and Philosophy. In 1975 Charlie entered law school at Cal–Berkeley under the Air Force’s Funded Legal Education Program. Upon graduation with his Juris Doctor degree in 1978, Charlie was assigned as Deputy Staff Judge Advocate at Carswell AFB, TX. In 1980 he became the Staff Judge Advocate for the Air Force Satellite Control Facility at Sunnyvale Air Force Station, CA. From there followed a series of assignments of ever-increasing responsibility: 1983–1986, Chief of Acquisition Law and Director of General Law for HQ Pacific Air Forces, Hickam AFB, HI; 1986–1989, Staff Judge Advocate for the training wing at MacDill AFB, FL; and 1989–1990, Deputy Director of the Air Force Judiciary, Bolling AFB, Washington, DC. Following graduation from the National War College in 1991, he was the Staff Judge Advocate for Seventh Air Force, Osan Air Base, Korea, and from 1993 to 1995 the Staff Judge Advocate for US Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, NE. Charlie was appointed a Permanent Professor on January 1, 1995, and he served as Head, Department of Philosophy, until his retirement in 2000. During this interesting period, the values of Integrity, Service Before Self, and Excellence In All We Do were developed at the Academy and adopted as the Air Force core values. Charlie wrote the seminal article “The Core Values: Framing and Resolving Ethical Issues for the Air Force” published in Airpower Journal in 1997, explaining the significance of these simple and forceful values based on the structure and purpose of morality.
Following his retirement, Charlie continued his teaching as a Professor at Northwest Florida State College, Niceville, until retiring from that position in 2016.