As a flag officer, he has served as commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Force 5th/7th Fleet and Fleet Air Forward; commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Group; on the Navy Staff as director, Twenty-First Century Sailor Office (N17); and most recently as chief of staff, J5, Joint Staff.

 

Flying the P-3C Orion, his early at-sea operational tours were in Patrol Squadron 40 (VP 40), a disassociated sea tour on USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) as the V-2 catapult and arresting gear division officer, and a department head tour in VP 26. He subsequently commanded VP 26, and Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 11.

His shore and staff assignments include Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 1; the Bureau of Naval Personnel as the aircraft carrier placement officer; The Joint Staff J3 as an air operations officer in the Reconnaissance Operations division; the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) staff as executive assistant to the deputy CNO for Warfare Requirements and Programs; and the United States Joint Forces Command as the deputy director for Operations in the Strategy and Policy Directorate.  Prior to major command, he completed an interim assignment with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). It was during this assignment that he earned a spot in the Navy’s Space Cadre.

 

Buck is entitled to wear the Defense Superior Service Medal (two awards), Legion of Merit (five awards) and various other

 

personal, unit and service awards.

Additionally, his education includes College of Command and Staff, U.S. Naval War College; Armed Forces Staff College; and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Seminar XXI "Foreign Politics, International Relations, and the National Interest." He also completed a special assignment as a senior fellow on the CNO’s Strategic Studies Group (SSG) in Newport, Rhode Island, an innovation think tank for the Navy.