Mark Campbell, Air Force Veteran

The belief in service to one’s country runs deeply in Mark Campbell’s family. His father served in the U.S. Army, but the U.S. Air Force has been his branch of choice. Campbell, as well as one of his sons, his uncle and his nephew all have worn the wings that represent strength, swiftness and the obligation to secure freedom.

Campbell served for four years as the leader of a team that provided Desert, Water, Arctic and Prisoner-of-War survival training for pilots. Campbell conducted survival exercises for A-10 (Warthog) pilots, placing them in scenarios that reproduced the conditions of being shot down and having to evade capture.

When it came time to re-up, Campbell decided to put two degrees he had earned to use in the civilian world. He transitioned to the information technology field and cybersecurity, and he currently serves as the Chief Information Security Officer for GMR, protecting the company from enterprise-wide threats. Campbell credits the military for much of his civilian success.

"The armed forces will always be in my blood," said Campbell. "The military helped prepare me for all aspects of my life by instilling strong discipline and ethics at a young age.

I enjoy how my military experience in training pilots to survive in hostile situations has come full circle to work for a company that provides emergent care and is responsible for saving lives."

Rank Achieved

Campbell attained the rank of Sergeant and led a survival-training team for A-10 pilots. A-10 is known as the Tank Killer or Warthog, is the U.S. Air Force’s primary low-altitude, close-air-support aircraft, and has a wide combat radius, as well as short takeoff and landing capability permit operations in and out of locations near front lines.

Areas of Service

Campbell and his team traveled with the pilots they trained when on exercises, but he was stationed primarily at Myrtle Beach, SC Air Force Base (since closed). He did temporary duty stints conducting joint-country task force exercises in:

• Germany
• England
• Israel

Favorite Military Memory

• Campbell and his team trained the famous Air Force Thunderbird pilots.
• ​He was selected as “Sergeant of the Quarter” out of three squadrons and received an incentive flight in an F-16, a ride he will never forget.