Clyde A. Vaughn

One of the initiatives that operated during Vaughn's tenure, the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program (G-RAP), was later the subject of controversy and investigations. G-RAP offered a $2,000 bonus to Army National Guard members for each new recruit they helped bring into the National Guard during its expansion as part of the Global War on Terrorism. As a recruiting tool, G-RAP was widely viewed as a success, because it helped the National Guard meet or exceed its annual end strength goal of 350,000. Subsequent investigations indicated that abuse of the program might have involved more than $10 million in fraudulent bonus payments, and perhaps as much as $50 million. In 2015, Vaughn received a written reprimand from the U.S. Army, in which senior leaders criticized him for mismanaging G-RAP; Vaughn strongly denied the allegations. Later investigations revealed that some Army leaders overstated the amount of fraud; of more than 106,000 soldiers who received payments under G-RAP, fewer than 130 were convicted of fraud, and the fraud involved less than $3 million in a program which expended $350 million.

In 2010 he received the Raymond S. McLain Medal from the Association of the United States Army.

In 2010 the Army National Guard's GED Plus program, which enables recruits to complete their high school equivalency before beginning their initial training, was named for him. Vaughn spearheaded the creation of the program in 2006.

Vaughn was appointed Director of the Army National Guard in June, 2005, and he served until retiring in 2009. He was succeeded by Raymond W. Carpenter in an acting capacity until William E. Ingram Jr. became director in 2011.

From November, 2003 to June, 2005 Vaughn was Assistant for National Guard Matters to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In September, 2002 Vaughn was assigned as Deputy Director of the Army National Guard, succeeding Michael J. Squier, and he served until November, 2003.

From 1997 to 2000 Vaughn was Chief of the Operations Division at National Guard Bureau, and he was assigned as the Army's Deputy Director for Military Support to Civil Authorities from 2000 to 2002. He was on Interstate 395 en route to the Pentagon on the morning of September 11, 2001. He observed the hijacked Flight 77 Boeing 757 in flight, parked his car, ran to the building, and took part in the initial response to the casualties and damage caused when the plane crashed into the west side of the building.

He later carried out assignments at the National Guard Bureau before serving as Senior National Guard Advisor for U.S. Army South from 1994 to 1995.

In addition to his degree from Southeast Missouri State, Vaughn is a 1989 graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College. He graduated from the United States Army War College in 1994, simultaneously receiving a Master of Public Administration degree from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.

Vaughn's father, Clyde A. Vaughn, Sr., served in the National Guard as a Warrant Officer and retired in 1981. Vaughn is married to Carolyn K. Vaughn. Their son Chad is a fighter pilot in the United States Marine Corps.

Vaughn enlisted in the Missouri Army National Guard in 1969. He received his commission as a Second Lieutenant of Engineers after graduating from Officer Candidate School in 1974.

Clyde A. Vaughn (born April 27, 1946) is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General who served as Director of the Army National Guard.

Clyde Allen Vaughn, Jr. was born in Columbia, Missouri on April 27, 1946. He graduated from Dexter High School in Dexter, Missouri, received a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Southeast Missouri State University in 1968 and became a high school history teacher and football coach in Dexter, Missouri. While at college he became a member of the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity, Alpha Phi chapter.