Who is C.Q. Brown, the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?

Charles Q. Brown builds on an already historic career in becoming the the country's next most senior ranking military officer.

Before being confirmed Wednesday as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brown, who goes by C.Q., was the first Black service chief in US military history when he was confirmed as chief of the Air Force in 2020.

Brown is only the second Black man to serve as chairman - following Gen. Colin Powell - where he will act as the principal military adviser to President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and the National Security Council.

Brown's confirmation also marks the first time that both of the Defense Department's top leaders - the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs - are African American.

President Joe Biden nominated Brown in May and described the general as "a warrior" and a "fearless leader and unyielding patriot." But his nomination became ensnared in a monthslong blockage on Pentagon nominations by Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville in the Senate.

The Senate ultimately voted 83-11 to confirm his nomination Wednesday.

Commissioned in 1984 from the ROTC Program at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, Brown has commanded a fighter squadron, two fighter wings, US Air Forces Central Command and the US Air Force Weapons School, according to his official biography.