John Allen Brown is from West Columbia, SC, attended Lakeview Elementary and Junior High School. He graduated from Brookland-Cayce High School in Cayce, SC. He is married to Lela Booker from Union, SC. They have two children LeQuana and Eric. They have three grandsons Davion, DeQuan, and Donavon. They currently live in Millbrook, AL.
Major Brown entered the Air Force after graduating from the University of South Carolina with a degree in Business Administration (Accounting). He was commissioned into the Air Force after 4 years of Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). He began his career at Ellsworth AFB, in South Dakota where he was a Deputy ICBM Missile Launch Officer and within a year he became a Commander ICBM Launch Officer. He received a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California. He is currently enrolled in a doctoral program for Organizational Leadership with the University of Phoenix.
In less than a year of his commissioning, John became a ICBM Missile Launch Commander and the youngest Commander in the history of his wing. His career spanned several major jobs including Executive Officer, Protocol Officer, Squadron Operations Officer and Squadron Commander. He was Senior Airfield Manager at Mildenhall AFB, in Mildenhall, England, during the first Gulf War. He also taught at the Air University — the top 15% of all service military officers — at Maxwell AFB, AL. He had the distinction of instructing the first Russian Officer at the Air University since the end of the Cold War. He retired from the Air Force.
He became a Veterans Affairs Officer and Financial Aid Director at Troy University of Montgomery. Major Brown, after 5 years at Troy University, became a Senior Instructor for Air Force Junior ROTC at Wilcox Central High School in Camden, AL. He retired from AFJROTC in September of 2020. He is currently semi-retired and works part time for Jostens of Prattville.
