Commanding Officer
Capt. Matthew "Nilla" Wright

A native of Arnold, Maryland, Capt. Matt “Nilla” Wright was commissioned upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in May of 2002.  He completed rotary wing flight training and earned his “wings of gold” as a naval aviator in May of 2004.
 
Wright’s operational assignments include a junior officer tour with Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 2 aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), a tour as combat search and rescue officer with Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3 aboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), and a department head tour with Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 14 aboard USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74).  He was honored to serve as executive and then commanding officer of HSC-22 from 2018-2021.
 
His previous shore tours include service as a Seahawk weapons and tactics instructor (SWTI) with Helicopter Sea Combat Weapons School Atlantic (HSCWSL), a tour in the Pentagon with the Joint Staff’s Nuclear, Homeland Defense and Current Operations Deputy Directorate (J-33), and a tour with Navy Personnel Command as deputy director, aviation distribution division (PERS-43).
 
Wright holds a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the U.S. Naval Academy and an Executive Master of Business Administration from the Naval Post-Graduate School.  He is a joint qualified officer, has accumulated over 2,500 flight hours in four H-60 series aircraft as well as the MQ-8B UAV, is a graduate of the Seawolf Weapons and Tactics Course, and deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn. He won the 2022 CNO History Essay Competition- Rising Historian and is a frequent contributor to USNI’s Proceedings Magazine.
 
Wright currently serves as commanding officer of HSC-2, in Norfolk, Virginia.