Lieutenant Colonel Wayne Phelps (USMC Ret.)

Wayne Phelps is a retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel. During his military career he deployed five times, including two deployments to Afghanistan and two deployments to Iraq. He was amongst the first conventional troops on the ground in Pakistan after 9/11. He also participated in the initial invasion into Iraq in 2003 and the troop surge into Afghanistan in 2010. He commanded units at every level from Platoon to Squadron, served as an instructor at the Marine Corps’ premier aviation training squadron and a staff officer in the Pentagon.

In 2014 he was selected to become an RPA pilot and he attended the Air Force’s Undergraduate Pilot Training becoming the first Marine honor graduate. His last assignment was as the Commanding Officer of Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron Three (VMU-3) in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. As the Commanding Officer, he deployed four remotely piloted aircraft detachments to conduct counter-terrorism operations against violent extremist organizations.