A career in Naval Aviation, active and reserve.

Served as Training Officer and then Executive Officer of a detachment of Navy Reservists based at Navy Reserve Center (NRC) Kitsap, who supported the headquarters staff of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), since renamed US Pacific Command (USPACOM). By either name, PACOM is a four-star theater headquarters responsible for planning and directing the activities of American forces across 52 percent of the Earth's surface, an area home to more than 50 percent of the world's population. Per the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, its commander is a skip-level report of the President of the United States.

• Directly supervised four Navy officers who were line managers of a team of Navy reservists assigned to support INDOPACOM's Strategic Planning and Policy Directorate (J5).
• Served as a Joint Operations Center Watch Officer during the command post exercise Pacific Sentry 21, giving daily briefings to the four-star commander about the status of the J5 Directorate in concert with a one-star Air Force Brigadier General.
• Served as a Plans Officer for the J56 Strategy and Policy Division, supporting the USINDOPACOM Theater Posture Plan and serving as a primary point of contact for the division during exercise Pacific Sentry 23.
• Provided quarterly weekend augmentation support to various staff divisions of the J5 directorate, supporting various projects and programs.

Served as Operations Officer and Administration Officer for the reserve element of VTC-12, an air operations unit which provides detachments of aviation officers, enlisted Air Traffic Controllers, and enlisted Operations Specialists to embark on Navy amphibious ships. There, they coordinate and control flight operations for Navy and Marine aircraft within their assigned airspace, also sending liaison officers to other surrounding units in charge of air operations.

• Planned and directed support to the active-duty force for 12 Navy Reserve officers and 33 enlisted Sailors.
• Served in the field with the Australian Defence Force as an Air Operations Officer during the joint US/Australian exercise Talisman Saber 17. "Out bush," as the Aussies say, in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in north Queensland.
• During the major multinational military exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 18, served as a member of the Naval Amphibious Liaison Element (NALE) at the US Air Force's Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawai'i. Ensured seamless communications between higher authorities onshore and aviation forces embarked in multinational ships underway.
• Served as a member of the Naval Amphibious Liaison Element (NALE) during the joint US/Australian exercise Talisman Sabre 19, serving this time at the main military command center for the Australian Defence Force outside Canberra.
• Supported the pre-deployment training of a detachment of active duty officers and enlisted Air Traffic Controllers and Operations Specialists so they could deploy on board the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard.
• Selected for promotion to the rank of Commander.

Mobilized to active duty. Served at a Joint Special Operations Task Force headquarters staff as a subject matter expert in electronic warfare, translating a niche capability for a room that didn't speak that language natively.

• Sole Navy electronic attack subject matter expert at a JSOTF headquarters.
• Won buy-in for various proposals and projects from flag-level leadership (Rear Admiral and Major General).
• Coordinated a site visit to the headquarters by a senior Pentagon civilian leader (Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy).
• Briefly augmented other understaffed areas of the headquarters staff.

I joined the Navy Reserve and was initially assigned to the OSU, a unit that served as a holding tank for people from all walks of Navy Reserve life. These Sailors lived within commuting distance of the Whidbey Island reserve center, but were either assigned mobilization billets with units offsite or brand new to the Reserve and not yet placed.

• Served as Cross-Assigned Department Head, in charge of all OSU Sailors assigned to drill locally at Whidbey Island while simultaneously holding mobilization billets on the books of units elsewhere.
• Was cross-assigned myself to the Navy Reserve element of the VTC-12 "Talons,"beginning what would become a roughly 6 1/2-year affiliation with this reserve unit.
• Due to personnel shifts, when I became the second-most-senior officer in the unit, stepped up as Assistant Officer-in-Charge or second-in-command, running a full drill weekend for the unit when the Officer-in-Charge had to be absent.
• Served on an Operational Planning Team on the headquarters staff of Commander, U.S. Third Fleet during the joint US/Australian exercise Talisman Sabre 15.
• Selected for promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

Served as a junior officer in VAQ-142, filling roles as Legal Officer, Personnel Officer, Aircraft Division Officer, Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization (NATOPS) Officer, and Assistant Tactics Officer. Qualified as an EA-6B Mission Commander.

• Served as squadron aircrew in a Navy Electronic Attack squadron as it transitioned from a land-based unit supporting US Air Force operations to a carrier-based unit deploying on board the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz as part of Carrier Air Wing Eleven.
• Supported multiple large force exercises hosted by the US Air Force at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, as well as participating in the pre-deployment workup cycle for Carrier Air Wing Eleven, both on board USS Nimitz and at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada.
• Flew off USS Nimitz during pre-deployment workups in support of the major international exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 18.
• Deployed on board USS Nimitz in 2013, supporting both Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and operations in the aftermath of the 2013 Syrian chemical weapons crisis.