Jay A. Stout

Jay A. Stout is a retired Marine Corps fighter pilot. An Indiana native and graduate of Purdue University, he was commissioned during June 1981 and designated a naval aviator on May 13, 1983. His first fleet assignment was to F-4 Phantoms at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina. Following a stint as an instructor pilot at NAS Chase Field Texas from 1986 to 1989, he transitioned to the F/A-18 Hornet. He flew the Hornet from bases on both coasts and ultimately retired from MCAS Miramar during 2001.

Aside from his flying assignments, he served in a variety of additional billets with different staffs around the world. During his twenty-year career he flew more than 4,500 flight hours, including thirty-seven combat missions during Operation Desert Storm.

Following his military career Stout worked for a short time as an airline pilot before being furloughed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He subsequently flew for the Kuwait Air Force before returning to the States, where he now works for as a senior analyst for a leading defense corporation.

Lieutenant Colonel Stout's writing has been read on the floor of the U.S. Senate and published in various professional journals and newspapers around the nation. Works published while he was on active duty addressed controversial topics (women in the military, the MV-22 Osprey, effectiveness of the AV-8B Harrier, etc.) and took viewpoints that were often at odds with senior military leadership. Nevertheless, his cogent arguments and forthrightness contributed considerably to his credibility. Indeed, his expertise is widely recognized, and he has made many appearances as a combat aviation expert on news networks such as Fox, Al Jazeera, and National Public Radio.