Col Jonathan “Vapor” Bott is the Deputy Commander, 332 Air Expeditionary Wing, Southwest Asia. The composite wing includes a wide array of combat Air Force capabilities including precision strike, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and combat search and rescue in direct support of U.S. Air Forces Central and U.S. Central Command priorities. The wing is comprised of eight Mission Generation Force Elements, an Expeditionary Air Base Group, two Staff directorates, and 13 additional operational and support function squadrons with more than 3,600 total force Airmen.  

Col Bott was raised in a military family. He is a 2003 graduate of Boston University with a degree in Human Physiology. After commissioning, Col Bott attended undergraduate navigator training at NAS Pensacola, F.L. He has had two operational F-15E assignments at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, United Kingdom and Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. He has also twice instructed in the F-15E Formal Training Unit at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C. He served as Commander, 333rd Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. where he was responsible for more than 350 officer, enlisted, and civilian personnel from 17 Air Force specialties who trained over 100 F-15E aircrew annually in Air Combat Command’s largest Formal Training Unit. He also served as the Chief of Staff, 4th Fighter Wing, where he supervised 158 Airmen and 17 civilians while directing the activities of four Groups, six Directorates, and 23 Wing Staff Agencies. Prior to this assignment, he was a Military Professor in the Joint Military Operations Department at the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island instructing Senior- and Intermediate-Developmental Education to more than 600 Joint, Interagency, and international students.

Col Bott is a Master Navigator and Evaluator Weapon Systems Officer with more than 2,200 flight hours and six deployments to CENTCOM, AFRICOM, and EUCOM in support of Operations ENDURING FREEDOM, NOBLE ENDEAVOUR, INHERENT RESOLVE, SPARTAN SHIELD, and DYNAMIC EAGLE. He also deployed in support of Operation ALLIES WELCOME at Holloman AFB. He is also a graduate of the School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, K.S.

EDUCATION

2003 Bachelor of Science in Human Physiology, Boston University, Mass. 2009 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Ala.

2011 Master of Military Operational Art and Science, Air University, Maxwell AFB, Ala., by distance learning

2016 Master of Military Operational Art and Science, Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Ala.

2017 Master of Military Operational Art and Science, School of Advanced Military Studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

2022 Joint and Combined Warfighting School, Joint Professional Military Education II, Norfolk, Va.

2023 National Defense Fellow, The Watson Institute at Brown University, Providence, RI.

ASSIGNMENTS or CAREER CHRONOLOGY

1. May 2003 – June 2004, Executive Officer, 80th Operational Support Squadron, Sheppard Air Force Base (AFB), Wichita Falls, Texas
2. June 2004 – June 2006, Student, Undergraduate Navigator Training, NAS Pensacola, Florida.
3. June 2006 – May 2007, Student, F-15E Formal Training Unit, 334d Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina
4. May 2007 – November 2010, Instructor Weapons Systems Officer, Chief of Mobilty, Assistant Chief of Training, 492 Fighter Squadron, Royal Air Force Lakenheath, United Kingdom (Deployed March – April 20008, 48th Air Expeditionary Wing, Campia Turzi, Romania) (Deployed December 2008 – May 2009, 455^th Air Expeditionary Wing, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan) (Deployed April – September 2010, 455th Expeditionary Wing, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan)
5. November 2010 – May 2013, Evaluator Weapons Systems Officer, Flight Commander, Chief of Standardization and Evaluations, 391st Fighter Squadron, Mountain Home AFB, Idaho (Deployed August – November 2011, 449th Air Expeditionary Wing, Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti) (Deployed March – May 2012, 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates)
6. May 2013 – July 2015, Evaluator Weapons Systems Officer, Director of Staff, Assistant Director of Operations, 334th Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina.
7. July 2015 – Jun 2016, Student, Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
8. July 2016 – Jun 2017, Student, School of Advanced Military Studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
9. July 2017 – Mar 2018, Assistant Director of Operations, 333d Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina
10. Apr 2018 – Aug 2018, Director of Operations, 4th Training Squadron, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina
11. Aug 2018 – April 2019, Special Assistant to the Commander, 4th Fighter Wing, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina
12. May 2019 – April 2021, Commander, 333d Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina
13. May 2021 – Jun 2022, Chief of Staff, 4th Fighter Wing, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina (Deployed August – September 2021, 487th Air Expeditionary Wing, Holloman AFB, New Mexico)
14. Jul 2022 – Jun 2023, National Defense Fellow at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
15. Jun 2023 – Jun 2025, Military Professor, Joint Military Operations, Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island
16. Jun 2025—Present, Deputy Commander, 332 Air Expeditionary Wing, Southwest Asia

SUMMARY OF JOINT ASSIGNMENTS

1. June 2023 – Jun 2025, Military Professor, Joint Military Operations, Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, as a colonel

FLIGHT INFORMATION

Rating: Master Navigator

Flight Hours: More than 2,300 (to include more than 1100 Instructor hours and 600 combat hours)

Aircraft Flown: T-38C, F-15E

 

MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

Defense Superior Service Medal

Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters

Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters

Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters

Air Force Achievement Medal with oak leaf cluster

 

PUBLICATIONS

“What’s After Joint? Multi-Domain Operations as the Next Evolution in Warfare,” United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS May 2017

“Multi-Domain Operations”, Over The Horizon Digital Journal, Jul – Sep 2017 (Series of three articles)

“United States Air Force Operating Concept,” Department of the Air Force, Jan 2018 (Co-Author)

Winning Westeros: How Games of Thrones Explains Modern Military Conflict, Potomac Books, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Neb., 2019 (Contributing Author)

“Dominating DIME: Reimagining Combatant Commands”, National Defense University Press, Norfolk VA, Jun 2022 (Co-Author)

“Then, We Lost Everything: Afghan Evacuee Experiences during Operation Allies Refuge and Operations Allies Welcome,” Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, Brown University, Apr 2023 (Co-Author)

 

EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION

Second Lieutenant May 17, 2003

First Lieutenant May 28, 2005

Captain May 28, 2007

Major May 01, 2013

Lieutenant Colonel Feb 01, 2018

Colonel Jun 01, 2024

 

(Current as of Jun 2025)