Walter Rugen

Colonel Walter Rugen is the U.S. Army fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is a rotary wing aviator with service in Iraq and Afghanistan. His most recent assignment was on the Army Staff, where worked from 2009 to 2011 on multiple strategic issues affecting Army aviation. His first assignment was as a flight platoon leader in the Republic of Korea. In 1992, he was assigned to 9-101st Aviation Battalion (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, KY, where he served in a variety of aviation leadership and staff positions culminating in command of Bravo Company 9-101st. Colonel Rugen was then assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) at Fort Campbell, KY, in 1995, and began his time as a nightstalker, where he served as a special operations aviation flight platoon leader, company operations officer, and commanded two additional aviation companies from 1995 to 2002. During this time, he served extensively in Central and South America and the Caribbean. In 2003, he transitioned to become the battalion operations officer for 3rd Battalion 160th SOAR(A) at Hunter Army Airfield, GA, where he deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. In 2005, he was assigned as a strategic plans officer at U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, FL. In 2007, Colonel Rugen commanded 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operation Aviation Regiment and again deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan. He was commissioned as an officer in the Army through the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY, in 1989 with a B.S. in aerospace engineering. In 2002, he entered the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KS, and simultaneously earned a master of science in administration from Central Michigan University.