Upon his graduation from Washington State University in 1961, he was commissioned in July that same year through the
Reserve Officer Training Corps as a second lieutenant in the Air Force. He began flying
C124s at
McChord Air Force Base outside
Tacoma, Washington and after receiving his
C123 qualifications at
Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, he was assigned temporary duty to
Da Nang Air Base in
Vietnam. He returned stateside and spent 1963 to 1969 at McChord and received certification on the
C141. He spent time, again, at Da Nang Air Base as an executive officer for the 617th Military Airlift Support Squadron. Between 1972 and 1975, Kondra was executive officer to the
Military Airlift Command vice commander. He then became a
C141 commander of the 4th Military Airlift Squadron, followed by the operations officer of the 8th Military Airlift Squadron. He continued to increase in command and was deputy commander of operations of the
62nd Airlift Wing until late 1980. Further responsibilities increased and in 1986 he served as deputy director of operations at the National Military Command Center, Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in
Washington, DC. The following year he assumed command of the
834th Airlift Division at
Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. Other roles were special assistant for airlift to the commander in chief,
Pacific Air Forces. In 1990, he became deputy to chief of staff for operations, responsible for directing the airlift operations for the
Desert Shield and
Desert Storm operations. On July 17, 1991, he was promoted to lieutenant general and assumed command of the
21st Air Force that same year. Kondra retired in 1992. ==Gulf War==