Jay Raymond was born on April 30, 1962, in Monterey County, California. He was commissioned a 2d Lt in the U.S. Air Force through the Air Force ROTC program at Clemson University on July 20, 1984, and then attended Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Officer training. His first assignment was as a Minuteman ICBM Crew Commander, Flight Commander, Instructor Crew Commander, and Missile Procedures Trainer Operator with the 321st Strategic Missile Wing at Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, from August 1985 to October 1989. Captain Raymond then served as Operations Center Officer Controller with the 1st Strategic Aerospace Division, and Executive Officer with the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg AFB, California, from October 1989 to August 1993, followed by service as Chief of Commercial Space Lift Operations and Assistant Chief of the Current Operations Branch with Headquarters Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) at Peterson AFB, Colorado, from August 1993 to February 1996. He served as Deputy Director in the Commander in Chief's Action Group with Headquarters AFSPC at Peterson AFB from February to August 1996, and he then attended Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, from August 1996 to June 1997. Major Raymond next served as a Space and Missile Force Programmer at Headquarters U.S. Air Force in the Pentagon from June 1997 to August 1998, and then as Chief of Expeditionary Aerospace Force Space and Program Integration with Headquarters U.S. Air Force from September 1998 to April 2000. During this time he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in July 1999. His next assignment was as Commander of the 5th Space Surveillance Squadron at RAF Feltwell, England, from April 2000 to June 2001, and then as Deputy Commander of the 21st Operations Group at Peterson AFB from June 2001 to July 2002. Lt Col Raymond attended Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island, from July 2002 to June 2003, followed by service as a Transformation Strategist with the Office of Force Transformation in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon from June 2003 to June 2005. During this time he was promoted to Colonel in July 2004. Col Raymond next served as Commander of the 30th Operations Group at Vandenberg AFB from June 2005 to June 2007, and during that time he deployed and served as Director of Space Forces in the Combined Air Operations Center in Southwest Asia from September 2006 to January 2007. He served as Commander of the 21st Space Wing at Peterson AFB from June 2007 to August 2009, followed by service as Director of Plans, Programs, and Analyses with Headquarters AFSPC at Peterson from August 2009 to December 2010. He was promoted to Brigadier General on August 1, 2009. Brig Gen Raymond next served as Vice Commander of Fifth Air Force and Deputy Commander of 13th Air Force, both at Yokota AB, Japan, from December 2010 to July 2012, and during this time he was promoted to Major General in May 2012. Maj Gen Raymond served as Director of Plans and Policy (J5) with U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt AFB, Nebraska, from July 2012 to January 2014, and he then served as Commander of 14th Air Force (Air Forces Strategic), AFSPC, and Commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Space with U.S. Strategic Command at Vandenberg AFB from January 2014 to August 2015, receiving his promotion to Lieutenant General on January 31, 2014. His next assignment was as Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations with Headquarters U.S. Air Force in the Pentagon from August 2015 to October 2016, followed by service as the 17th and final Commander of Air Force Space Command at Peterson AFB from October 2016 until that organization was re-designated as the United States Space Force in December 2019. He was promoted to General on October 25, 2016. On December 20, 2019, General Raymond became the first Chief of Space Operations with United States Space Force at Peterson AFB, Colorado, as well as serving as Commander of United States Space Command at Peterson, until moving to the Pentagon. As the first Chief of Space Operations, he was also officially the first person ever to serve in the U.S. Space Force. Gen Raymond retired from the U.S. Space Force on January 1, 2023.