Lieutenant Colonel Smith was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps upon graduation from the United States Naval Academy in May of 1993 with a degree in Engineering. After completing The Basic School and Basic Engineer Officers Course, Second Lieutenant Smith reported to 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Force Service Support Group (FSSG) where he served as an engineer platoon commander and subsequently Aide-de-Camp to the Commanding General 1st FSSG. In June of 1996, then First Lieutenant Smith reported to Bangkok, Thailand for duty as the Operations Officer and Executive Officer of Charlie Company, Marine Security Guard Battalion where he oversaw 18 Marine Dets in 16 countries. During his tour he was promoted to Captain.
Following duty in Thailand Captain Smith attend Amphibious Warfare School (AWS) in Quantico, VA and subsequently was assigned to the 1st Marine Division where he served as Assistant Operations officer in the G-3, Division Engineer, and briefly as the Aide to the Commanding General. He also deployed to Egypt for 3 months In September of 2000. Captain Smith transferred to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion (CEB) holding billets of Assistant Operations Officer, and Commanding Officer, C Company. As Company Commander he dually served as the 7th Marine Regiment, Regimental Engineer.
In the fall of 2002 Captain Smith started his studies at the Naval Post-Graduate School and Defense Language Institute where he received a Master's degree in International Security Affairs and studied Russian. During this time he was promoted to Major.
In August of 2005, Major Smith reported to 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing for duty as the Wing Engineer. During his 3 year tour he deployed for 13 months to Iraq as the Wing and Base Engineer of Al Asad Air Base, and to the Republic of Georgia for 6 months as a UN Military Observer. Having completed the Joint Military Attaché School in November, 2008, Lieutenant Colonel Smith was promoted to his current rank in February 2009 and subsequently served for two years as the Senior Defense Official/ Defense Attaché (SDO/DATT) in Riga, Latvia, the first Marine to do so Worldwide.
In August of 2011 Lieutenant Colonel Smith reported to I Marine Expeditionary Force for duty at the I MEF Engineer, and was immediately chopped to I MEF (FWD) with whom he deployed for a year to Helmand Province, Afghanistan as the C-7 Deputy and OpsO, Regional Command (SW). He is currently serving as I MEF Engineer and Deputy G-4.
Lieutenant Colonel Smith’s personal decorations include the Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Metal, Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Commendation Medal, Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal (W/ Gold star in Lieu of 3rd award), and the Army Commendation Medal.