Chief Warrant Officer 5 David E. Van Vechten Jr.
Brigade Command Chief Warrant Officer

4th Combat Aviation Brigade 

Chief Warrant Officer 5 David E. Van Vechten Jr., a native of Herkimer, New York, entered military service in July 1994 as an 11B infantryman and was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. After completing his initial enlistment, Van Vechten joined the New York (and then Arizona) National Guard until he was accepted into the initial entry rotary wing (IERW) program at Fort Rucker, Alabama, in 2001.

Van Vechten has held operational positions from tactical to strategic levels. He has served as a pilot-in-command, air mission commander, platoon instructor pilot, platoon leader for the UH-60M Aircraft Qualification Course (AQC) and as a company, battalion and brigade standardization officer. His assignment locations as an aviator include The Aviation Company (AVCO), National Training Center (NTC), Fort Irwin, California; AVCO, Multinational Force Observers, Siani, Egypt; 10th Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB), Fort Drum, New York; 1st Battalion, 212th Aviation Regiment, Lowe Army Heliport, Fort Rucker, Alabama; 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB), 2nd CAB, Camp Humphreys, Korea; Office of the Program Manager, Saudi Arabian National Guard (OPM-SANG), Riyad, Saudi Arabia; and The US Army Aviation Brigade (TAAB), Fort Belvoir, Virginia. His most recent assignment was once again with OPM-SANG as the senior Warrant officer advisor (SWOA) for the Aviation Division. Van Vechten has multiple combat and operational deployments with over 1,500 combat hours and 5,300 hours of total flight time.

Van Vechten is rated in the UH-1H/N, UH-60A/L/M and is a graduate of the UH-60 Instructor Pilot (IP) Course, the Instrument Examiners (IE) Course, the High-Altitude Aviation Training Site (HAATS) course, Aviation Master Gunner Course and all warrant officer Professional Military Education (PME) courses. He has a Master of Science (MS) degree in aeronautics from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.

Van Vechten enjoys lifting weights, watching his daughter play volleyball, walking his dog Nova with his wife, and riding his Ducati Panigale motorcycle.

He is married and has two children.