LIEUTENANT COLONEL DANIEL D. COUGHLIN
Lt Col Daniel Coughlin is the Commander of the 23d Flying Training Squadron, Fort Rucker, Alabama. He is responsible for all training and flying operations for the Air Force’s only undergraduate helicopter training unit. The squadron executes the 58th Special Operations Wing’s largest flying hour program, totaling over 10,000 flight hours, while operating 28 TH-1Hs and producing more than 160 undergraduate pilots and special mission aviators per year.
Lt Col Coughlin earned his commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps at South Dakota State University (Det 780) in December of 2005. He served as a First Assignment Instructor Pilot and has been an instructor and evaluator pilot in the UH-1H Huey, TH-1H Huey and HH-60G Pave Hawk. Lt Col Coughlin has gained extensive experience in Air Force Rescue with multiple combat tours in Libya and Afghanistan, various major exercises with joint and coalition forces in the United Kingdom, Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United States.
Lt Col Coughlin previously served as the Operations Officer for the 23d Flying Training Squadron. He has also served as the Senior Personnel Recovery Staff Officer at Headquarters Allied Air Command, NATO in Germany, and was an Air University Fellow at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, where he instructed at Squadron
Officer School and completed Air Command and Staff College. He is a graduate of Air and Space Basic Course, Aircraft Mishap Investigation Course, Squadron Officer School, Aviation Safety Program Management Course, Advanced Principles of Instructional Design Course, Aircraft Maintenance Officer Course, Air Command and Staff College, Leadership Development Course for Squadron Commanders, and Air War College.
Lt Col Coughlin is a Command Pilot with more than 2,800 military and civilian flight hours including 260 combat hours. He is from Brandon, South Dakota and is married to his wife, Jamie, with three children, Bree, Ellie and Miles.