CDR Ryan Vest is a military faculty member with the US Naval War College's College of Maritime Operational Warfare (CMOW), where he serves as the C6F Action Officer for the Assist and Assess team and as an affiliate faculty member with the Russia Maritime Studies Institute. CDR Vest was designated a naval aviator in December, 2002 and has served at sea as a pilot with HS-11 aboard USS ENTERPRISE, HSC-8 aboard USS JOHN C. STENNIS and HSC-21, where he deployed to Iraq with the 2515th Naval Air Ambulance Detachment, and ashore as a weapons and tactics instructor at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC).