Executive Officer
Cmdr. Michael Ptacek
Cmdr. 
Michael Ptacek, a native of Arlington, Texas, enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves in 1994 as an Aircraft Firefighter and enlisted in the Navy in 2000 as an Aviation Electronics Technician working on the F/A-18 Hornet aircraft assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 83 “Rampagers”. He graduated from Columbia College with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and was commissioned in May 2007, earning his "Wings of Gold" in 2009.
Ptacek’s operational sea duty assignments include Airborne Command and Control Squadron (VAW) 125, where he was the Avionics division Officer, Quality Assurance Officer, and Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization (NATOPS) Officer. In 2016, he was selected as the Assistant Navigator aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), where he deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, safely navigating the ship through two Suez Canal transits and 33 replenishments at sea. In 2019, he deployed with VAW-121 in the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft, where he was the Maintenance Department Head and Operations Officer.
He has held shore duty assignments in the Fleet Replacement Squadron, VAW-120, where he served as the E-2D Training Department Head. Ptacek also assisted in the operational test and evaluation of the E-2D and performed the testing and acceptance of multiple simulators for the community. In 2020, he was selected as a Joint Operations Center operations officer for U.S. Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany, where he participated in the execution of five response force deployments and in the preparation of a military-assisted departure in Ethiopia.
Ptacek has logged over 1,900 flight hours in four variants of the E-2 aboard four aircraft carriers. In 2011 and 2012, he deployed aboard the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), where he flew combat missions over Afghanistan and Iraq and served as the strike group liaison officer in Afghanistan and the Combat Air and Space Operations Center.
His personal decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.