COLONEL MARCY ATWOOD
Colonel Marcelyn Atwood is the Vice Director for Manpower and Personnel, Joint Staff, Pentagon, Washington D.C. The Directorate provides the President, Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs military advice and support in manpower and personnel matters ensuring maximum readiness and sustainability across the Services.
Colonel Atwood entered the Air Force in 1981 after graduating from the University of Oregon in 1978 and teaching public school in Oregon. Her career includes operational tours in Air Force tanker and E-4B aircraft including an assignment as Commander of the Training Squadron Ten, Training Wing Six, Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. She has served as a member of the United States Strategic Command Transition Team and subsequently a nuclear war planner and strategy and concepts officer developing nuclear policy. Colonel Atwood served as deputy director of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force's Operations Group providing direct, unfiltered advice to the Air Force's senior leadership on the full range of operational, logistics, acquisition, personnel and budgetary issues. She served as the 55th Operations Group Commander from 2002-2004 and during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM she commanded the 398th Air Expeditionary Group based in Souda Bay, Greece. She is a master navigator with over 3,000 hours and a graduate of the Naval Command and Staff College and was a National Security Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. She assumed her current duties in Jul 2004. She is married to LtCol Neal A. Puckett, USMC (Ret).
EDUCATION:
| 1978 | Bachelor of Music, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR |
| 1986 | Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, AL |
| 1986 | Master of Science, Human Resource Management and Development, Chapman College, Orange, CA |
| 1989 | Air Staff Training Program, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition |
| 1991 | Bachelor of Science, Information Management, Bellevue College, Omaha, NE |
| 1993 | Master of Science, National Security Studies, Naval War College, RI |
| 1993 | Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk Naval Base, VA |
| 1999 | National Security Fellow, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA |
ASSIGNMENTS:
| 1. | February 1981 - August 1981, Student, Undergraduate Navigator Training, Mather AFB, CA |
| 2. | February 1982 - May 1985, Navigator/Instructor, KC-125Q, 22nd Air Refueling Squadron, Beale AFB, CA |
| 3. | May 1985 - April 1986, Chief, KC-135/KC-10 Contingency Operations, 22nd Air Refueling Wing, March AFB, CA |
| 4. | April 1986 - October 1988, Chief KC-135 Mission Development Branch and Senior KC-135 Standardization and Evaluation Instructor Navigator, 22nd Air Refueling Wing, March AFB, CA |
| 5. | October 1988 - October 1989, Air Staff Training Program, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Budgeting, Congressional Liaison and Special Operations, Pentagon, Washington D.C. |
| 6. | October 1989 - October 1991, Navigator/Instructor E-4B, 1st Airborne Command/Control Squadron, Offutt AFB, NE |
| 7. | October 1991 - July 1992, Transition Team Member, USSTRATCOM Provisional Headquarters, Offutt AFB, NE |
| 8. | July 1992 - September 1993, Student, Naval Command and Staff College, Naval War College, Newport, RI |
| 9. | September 1993 - December 1995, Refueling Planner for Single Integrated Operations Plan and Strategy and Concepts Officer, United States Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, NE |
| 10. | December 1995 - July 1998, Operations Officer then Commanding Officer of Training Squadron Ten, Training Wing Six, Naval Air Station Pensacola, Pensacola, FL |
| 11. | 11. July 1998 - May 1999, National Security Fellow, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA |
| 12. | 12. May 1999 - January 2000, Chief, Strategy and Concepts Branch, Director of Nuclear and Counterproliferation, Headquarters Air Force, Pentagon, Washington D.C. |
| 13. | 13. January 2000 - July 2001, Deputy Director, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Operations Group, Headquarters Air Force, Washington D.C. |
| 14. | July 2001 - May 2002, Deputy Operations Group Commander, 55th Wing, Offutt AFB, NE |
| 15. | May 2002 - June 2004, Operations Group Commander, 55th Wing, Offutt AFB, NE |
| 16. | July 2004 - Present, Vice Director, Manpower and Personnel, Joint Staff, Washington D.C. |
FLIGHT INFORMATION:
| Rating: | Master Navigator |
| Flight Hours: | 3,000 |
| Aircraft Flown: | KC-135Q/A, E-4B, T-1A, T-39N, RC-135 |
AWARDS AND DECORATIONS:
Legion of Merit
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Meritorious Service Medal w/2 OLC
Air Force Commendation Medal w/1 OLC
Air Force Achievement Medals w/2 OLC
EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION:
| Second Lieutenant | February 4, 1981 |
| First Lieutenant | February 4, 1983 |
| Captain | February 4, 1985 |
| Major | April 1, 1993 |
| Lieutenant Colonel | January 1, 1997 |
| Colonel | April 1, 2001 |