Cagle, Dan P.
After receiving his Bachelor of Science from the School of Communications, Southern Illinois University, Dan was Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. His first assignment was USAF Undergraduate Flight School, Vance AFB, Enid, Oklahoma. After 53 weeks of intensive training in various high performance jet aircraft he earned his USAF Pilot Wings. His first assignment out of flight school was Nuclear Weapons School and on to Castle, AFB in Merced, California for B-52 Combat Crew training. Upon completion he was assigned to McCoy, AFB Orlando, Florida. Two months later he began the first of four tours of duty in Southeast Asia (Vietnam). Dan flew over 250 B52 Combat missions and was awarded the Air Medal w/13 OLC (Oak Leaf Clusters) and the Distinguish Flying Cross along with various awards for Vietnam Service. In 1972 Dan received an inter-service transfer to the USMC. His first duty assignment was the A4 aircraft replacement group in Cherry Point, NC. After completion of Basic A4 training, he was assigned to MCAS Beaufort, SC to join A4-M Tactical Squadron, VMA 311 (TOMCATS) where he promptly earn the call sign, “ BUFF-DRIVER”. In the summer of 1973 VMA 311 deployed to the USS Kennedy aircraft carrier. During this deployment, Dan completed his carrier training certification and earned his USMC Naval Aviator Wings of Gold. After completion of his USAF and USMC service, Dan resigned his commission for a position with General Motors Corporation as Delco Electronics Western Regional Manager. He continued in Automotive Electronics with Motorola where he was employed as the National Sales Manager. His last position prior to moving to the Middle East was President/CEO of Nokia Mobira North America. In 1989, Dan was invited by his USAF Pilot Training Classmate, His Highness Prince Brigadier General Ahmed bin Mosaed Al Sudairy to come to Saudi Arabia as the Program Manager for the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) F-5 Technical Support Program (TSP). Since arriving in the Kingdom, Dan has worked in Program and General Management positions for U.S. Defense companies, such as; Lear Siegler, Raytheon and Managing Director/CEO for Lockheed Middle East. He has proven successful in capturing several major U.S. and Saudi Arabian Military Defense contracts. Most recently in his role as the senior in-country executive for Oshkosh Defense, Dan has successfully won over $1.7B in Saudi Ministry Of Defense contracts. Dan has served on the American Business Group Riyadh (American Chamber of Commerce) Board of Directors for over 20 years. He has served as the Vice Chairman twice and twice as the Chairman. Cagle holds a master’s degree in International Business from LaSalle University along with a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Southern Illinois University. Dan is married to Debbie, his wife of 48 years. They have twins, Ashlee, and Danny and five grandchildren. Dan Cagle retired as the Managing Director for Oshkosh Defense Saudi Arabia.