 He graduated from the Army War College in 1939 and went to the office of the Chief of the United States Army Air Corps as head of the Training and Operations Division, with promotion to colonel in March 1940.A year later Stratemeyer became executive officer to General Henry H. Arnold, the chief of the Air Corps, and in August he was promoted to brigadier general.Stratemeyer commanded the Southeast Air Corps Training Center at Maxwell Field, Alabama, for five months and returned to Washington in June 1942 as chief of Air Staff for General Arnold.