Lt. Col. John Huntsman is the Deputy Commander of Space Base Delta 3 at Los Angeles Air Force Base, El Segundo, California. He oversees five squadrons and six staff agencies, supporting over 7,000 personnel with $1 billion in physical plant assets and manages the annual execution of a $61.4 million annual budget. SBD 3 provides medical services, civil engineering and logistics, communications, chaplain services, security, personnel and readiness programs, and quality-of-life services to the installation, including the co-located Field Command, Space Systems Command, the base housing areas at Fort MacArthur, San Pedro, California, and many other Department of Defense units in the Los Angeles area.
He received his commission through ROTC at the University of Washington in 2004 as a pilot and has served in the United States for 20 years. Prior to his current assignment, he was the Chief of Staff, 353d Special Operations Wing, Kadena Air Base, Japan. The 353d Special Operations Wing uses advanced aircraft, tactics, and techniques to infiltrate, exfiltrate, resupply and support special operations forces.
Lt. Col. Huntsman is a fully qualified joint service officer, a command pilot, and has served in a variety of contingency and humanitarian relief operations throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Indo-Pacific.
EDUCATION
2004 Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.
2010 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
2012 Master of Science in Management (Summa Cum Laude), CCU, Santa Ana, Calif.
2015 Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Ala., by correspondence
2018 Master of Science in DA: Irregular Warfare (Outstanding Thesis Award), NPS, Monterey, Calif.
2021 Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Ala., by correspondence
ASSIGNMENTS
July 2004 – June 2007, Student Pilot, Moody Air Force Base, Georgia & corpus Christi NAS, Texas
June 2007 – July 2011, Assistant Flight Commander, 37th Airlift Sq, Ramstein Air Base, Germany
July 2011 – April 2015, MC-130J Stan Eval Pilot, 58th Special Operations Grp, Kirtland, N.M.
April 2015 – July 2016, Chief of Flight Safety, 353d Special Operations Group, Kadena Japan
January 2017 – July 2018, Student, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif.
July 2018 – May 2021, Division Chief, Requirements, Program, Posture, SOCEUR, Stuttgart, Germany
May 2021 – December 2022, Operations Officer, 1st Special Operations Squadron, Kadena, Japan
December 2022 – December 2023, Commander, 353d Special Operations Support Squadron, Kadena, Japan
December 2023 – May 2024, Chief of Staff, 353d Special Operations Wing, Kadena, Japan
May 2024 – Present, Deputy Commander, Space Base Delta 3, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif.
SUMMARY OF JOINT ASSIGNMENTS
July 2016 – January 2017, Operations Director, Joint Special Operations Air Detachment, [Data Masked], as a Major
July 2018 – July 2020, Division Chief, Special Operations Command Europe, Germany, as a Lieutenant Colonel
FLIGHT INFORMATION
Rating: Command Pilot
Flight Hours: More than 3,038 (including more than 133 combat or combat support hours).
Aircraft Flown: MC-130J, HC-130J, C-130E/H/J, T-44A and T-6A
MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Defense Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster
Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster
Air Force Commendation Medal
Air Force Achievement Medal
PUBLICATIONS
“Book Review: Warrior Geeks: How 21st-Century Technology Is Changing the Way We Fight and Think About War and The Code of the Warrior: Exploring Warrior Values Past and Present.” Media, War & Conflict 11, no. 1 (March 1, 2018): 174–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750635218759394.
“Just Strike: A Commander’s Guide to Preemptive Self-Defense.” Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, 2018. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/trecms/pdf/AD1059953.pdf.
“Getting to Ethical Readiness.” War on the Rocks, February 8, 2021. https://warontherocks.com/2021/02/getting-to-ethical-readiness/.
EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
Second Lieutenant June 2, 2004
First Lieutenant June 2, 2006
Captain June 2, 2008
Major Oct. 1, 2014
Lieutenant Colonel April 1, 2019