Lt. Col. Brian Haas, Commander, 1st Battalion, 14th Aviation Regiment
Lt. Col. Brian Haas is from Venturia, North Dakota. He graduated from the University of North Dakota in May of 2004 with a Bachelor of Science commercial aviation – rotorcraft with a Military Science minor. He later earned his Master of Science degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with specialties in Aviation Operations and Human Factors.
In November of 2005, he graduated flight school qualified in the AH-64D and was subsequently assigned to B Company, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment – 1st Air Cavalry Brigade at Fort Hood, Texas, as a platoon leader and later as a company commander of HHC and A Company. After attending the Aviation Captains Career Course in 2011, he and his family moved to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada where he served on an Office of the Secretary of Defense Joint Test.
Additional assignments include: Aviation Advisor-United States Military Training Mission – Saudi Arabia; battalion operations officer 1-3 Attack Reconnaissance Battalion – Katterbach, Germany, 12th CAB brigade operations officer, and later brigade executive officer – Katterbach, Germany; Aviation Operations Observer Controller/Trainer – National Training Center, FT Irwin, CA and strategic planner Joint Special Operations Command – Fort Liberty, North Carolina.
Lt. Col. Haas has deployed in operational and support environments, accumulating 2,000 flight hours of which 1,000 are in combat. With over 19 years of aviation service, he has flown the OH-58A/C, LUH-72, AH-64D, and AH-64E Apache helicopters as well as several civilian type ratings in fixed and rotary wing aircraft. Lt. Col. Haas’s military awards and decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Meritorious Service Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Air Medal with Numeral 2 and “V” device. He has also earned the Combat Action Badge, the Senior Army Aviator Badge and the Parachutist Badge.