Commanding Officer
Capt. Clif "Cornbread" Coleman
Capt. Clif “Cornbread” Coleman, a native of Humboldt, Tennessee, was commissioned in May 2001 via the NROTC scholarship program at the University of Memphis and was designated a naval flight officer in October 2003. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.
Coleman’s operational assignments include tours with Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 126, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 as the command, control, communications, computers and intelligence officer and assistant operations officer, VAW-126 as a department head, and VAW-126 as the commanding officer. He has deployed and served aboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, New Dawn, and Inherent Resolve, as well as Joint Task Force-Katrina, Exercises Saxon Warrior 2011 and Trident Juncture 2018, and the Navy’s first-ever dynamic force employment deployment in 2018 as part of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 8.
Ashore, Coleman served as an instructor naval flight officer and Naval Air Force Atlantic’s Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization (NATOPS) evaluator at VAW-120 fleet replacement squadron (FRS). In February 2015, he reported as the VAW, Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC), Training Squadron (VT) Strike, and inter-service personnel exchange program (PEP) placement officer at Naval Personnel Command, PERS-43 (aviation officer assignments) in Millington, Tennessee. Coleman also served as the Commanding Officer of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School (CAEWWS) at Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center in July 2023 and followed by reporting to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 1 in August 2023 as the Chief Operational Test Director.
Coleman now serves as the Commanding Officer for VX-1.
Coleman has logged more than 3,000 hours and 650 carrier arrested landings in the E-2 Hawkeye aircraft. His personal decorations include Meritorious Service Medal, Strike/Flight Air Medal (three awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (six awards), Joint Service Achievement Medal, and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (three awards) as well as other unit, campaign, and service awards.