Professional Military Education (AJPME) (2010) Military service Following in his Dad's footsteps of lifelong military service, John attended the United States Air Force Academy, graduating in May, 1990. Entering active duty, his early assignments were in the fields of logistics and plans in three different locations: California, Hawaii, and Italy. During these early years, then Lieutenant Tree deployed on 4 different occasions (2 times each) to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Given his fluency in both French and Haitian Creole, he was the lead linguist for the Joint Task Force responsible for returning Haitian migrants to Haiti and for Operation Uphold Democracy in 1994. He served as part of the United Nations Mission in Haiti, wearing the blue beret associated with the United Nations. As a captain with seven years of full-time service in 1997, he separated from active duty and immediately became a member of the Air Force Reserve. He was soon promoted to major and became an acquisition officer at the Headquarters of Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He worked on major Air Force programs and weapon systems that were critical to the nation's defense. In 2004 he deployed to Headquarters United States European Command in Stuttgart, Germany for 5 months in support of the war on terror and Operation Enduring Freedom. He worked in the Headquarter's 24/7 European Plans and Operations Center (EPOC), coordinating and directing logistics support of the total war effort. For his exceptional service during this deployment he was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal and was later promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. As a lieutenant colonel, Tree was appointed the commander of the 38th Aerial Port Squadron in Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina. He led his squadron for three years, commanding a team of 215 men and women of the United States Air Force Reserve. During this period his squadron's Airmen were deployed on numerous occasions to combat zones in the middle east, including Iraq and Afghanistan. He was promoted to the rank of full colonel in May, 2008 and was subsequently reassigned as the senior reservist to the Director of Global Channel Operations in the Tanker Airlift Control Center (TACC) at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. He held this position for three years and was then assigned in March, 2011 as the senior reservist to the director of resource integration at the Headquarters,