A naval flight officer, Capt. Howes has held command of a reconnaissance squadron (VQ-1), Naval Support Activity – Bahrain and most recently the Naval Academy Preparatory School. During his four naval aviation tours, he deployed worldwide and operated in every geographic combatant command area of responsibility. He served two tours at the Joint Special Operations Command and a tour at the National Reconnaissance Office. While at JSOC, he deployed as the joint air component commander for a special operations task force. He has earned subspecialties in information operations, naval strategy, resource management and space systems engineering.