Roderick Edward Gillis

Memorial services will be held on Monday, January 11th, beginning at 10 a.m. Funeral services will be held in Arlington National Cemetery later this year.

Col. Gillis was an attendee of Centreville Baptist Church.

Colonel Gillis was born May 26, 1958, in Moses Lake, Washington, to Jack Thomas Gillis and Josephine Carmack Gillis. Son of an Air Force officer, he moved around many times, calling Colorado, Germany, and many places home, until they settled in Montgomery, Alabama, where Col. Gillis graduated from Sidney Lanier High School. He then attended Troy University in Troy, Alabama, where he was a member of Air Force ROTC and Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. Col. Gillis graduated in May 1980 with a Bachelors of Science in computer science.

After receiving his Air Force commission in 1980, he attended pilot training at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona. His first operation was as a B-52 copilot and Stan/Eval copilot at Dyess AFB in Texas. In 1984, Col. Gillis upgraded to aircraft commander enroute to Minot AFB, North Dakota, where he served as aircraft commander and instructor pilot. He was then selected to the Air Staff Training program at the U.S. Air Force Headquarters at the Pentagon. A year later, Col. Gillis was transferred to Castle AFB, California, where he was a Combat Crew Training Squadron instructor pilot, chief Stan/Eval pilot, and flight commander. In 1993, he attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, while he also received his Masters in aeronautical science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Col. Gillis was then assigned to U.S. Strategic Command at Offut AFB, Nebraska. Col. Gillis returned to fly at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, in 1997, where he served as Operations Officer, followed by Commander of the 11th Bomb Squadron. After his tour of command, he attended Air War College, where he received his second Masters in Strategic Studies, and then transferred to the Joint Staff in the Pentagon in 2001. Col. Gillis served as 2d Operations Group in Barksdale from May 2004 until June 2006. He then served as Vice Wing Commander at Vance AFB, Oklahoma, where he retired from the Air Force on April 29, 2008. During his service, Col. Gillis was deployed twice as the Commander of the 36th Expeditionary Operations Group and the 40th Air Expeditionary Group.

Upon retirement, Col. Gillis began his civilian career as an associate at Booz-Allen Hamilton, followed by his position at Scitor as Operations Research Analyst. He then returned to the Pentagon as Director of Nuclear Safety, Security and Response with the Office of Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense of Nuclear Matters.

Col. Gillis is survived by his wife Donna Jeffcoat Gillis, son Robert Scott Gillis, daughter Mary-Anne Gillis, son Jack Thomas Gillis III and his wife Rachel, sister Patty Lard and her husband Lynn, and sister Jennifer Cai Gillis.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Samaritan’s Purse or American Cancer Society.