COL(P) Don Brooks assumed duties as the Deputy Commander for Operations of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, in March 2025.
COL(P) Brooks is a 1999 graduate of the United States Military Academy. After commissioning into Field Artillery, he was assigned as a platoon leader, battery executive officer, and battalion S1 in 2nd Battalion, 4th Field Artillery (MLRS), III Corps Artillery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Following the Field Artillery Advanced Course, he was assigned to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3d Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia, where he served as a fire direction officer, assistant battalion S3, battalion S3, and Alpha Battery commander in 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery (M109A6) and squadron fire support officer in 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry. He has operational deployments to Operation Desert Spring and Operations Iraqi Freedom I, III, and V.
COL(P) Brooks designated as a space operations officer in 2008. In 2009, he was assigned to the Joint Navigation Warfare Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, where he served as the warfighter support division chief and the director of operations (J3). Assigned to Special Operations Command – South in January 2014, he served as the special technical operations chief, Joint Effects Division chief, and as the J35 Future Operations Division chief overseeing all non-lethal effects and future Special Operations in the U.S. Southern Command’s area of responsibility. From July 2017 to June 2019, he commanded the 1st Space Battalion at Fort Carson, Colorado. He then moved to Tampa, Florida, and established USSPACECOM’s Joint Integrated Space Team at both U.S. Special Operations Command and U.S. Central Command. After commanding the Army’s only space brigade, the 1st Space Brigade, from February 2021 to July 2023, he assumed the role as the Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence Commandant in August 2023.
COL(P) Brooks holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the United States Military Academy and a master’s degree in Earth remote sensing/hyperspectral imagery from the Florida Institute of Technology. His military education includes the Field Artillery Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, Combined Arms and Services Staff School, Command and General Staff College, Joint Professional Military Education, Space Operations Officer Qualification Course, Special Technical Operations Course, Space 200 & 300, and the U.S. Army War College as a fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia.
His awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal (two oak leaf clusters), Defense Meritorious Service Medal (one oak leaf cluster), Meritorious Service Medal (one oak leaf cluster), Joint Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal (two oak leaf clusters), Joint Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal (three oak leaf cluster), Combat Action Badge, Army Master Space Badge, and the Air Assault Badge.
COL(P) Brooks is married, and they have one son.
March 2025
