LtCol Bryan L. Littleton III is a native of Texarkana, TX and was commissioned via the Officer Candidate’s School course in December 2002. Like many of his peers, the desire to serve his country was motivated from the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001.
Upon graduation from The Basic School in June 2003, Second Lieutenant Littleton reported to the Naval Air Training Command in Pensacola, FL for Aviation Primary Indoctrination. Later that year, he joined VT-27 in Corpus Christi, TX for Primary Flight School, flying the T34-C Turbomentor. Upon completion of Primary, he maintained his South Texas residency after successfully selecting the Maritime pipeline for Advanced Multi-engine Training with VT-31 flying the T44-A.
First Lieutenant Littleton earned his Naval Aviator wings in February of 2005 and reported to VMGRT-253 in Cherry Point, NC shortly thereafter, where he began the KC-130 training syllabus. After completing a three-month stint of initial C-130 flight training at Jacksonville, Air Force Base in Arkansas, First Lieutenant Littleton returned to Cherry Point where he was NATOPS qualified and served as a Transport Third Pilot until a PCS move in the fall of 2006.
With the fleet full of KC-130 co-pilots, and the active-duty cadre in the reserve squadrons desperate for more active duty pilots, First Lieutenant Littleton received a change of orders from Okinawa, Japan, to Fort Worth, TX to join VMGR-234. During his first tour with the Rangers, Captain Littleton served as the Airframes and Quality Assurance Officer in the Maintenance Department, followed by the Aircrew Training Officer in the Operations Department.
In the summer of 2009, Captain Littleton was presented with the opportunity to attend the Tactical Air Control Party School in Coronado, CA, where he later deployed with 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion to Helmand Province, Afghanistan as a company Forward Air Controller.
Prior to his return to flying in the fall of 2010, Captain Littleton received a slot at the Aviation Safety Officer Course in Pensacola, where he went on to serve as VMGR-234’s ASO and NATOPS Officer. In less than a year, Captain Littleton was designated as the 4th MAW KC-130 F/R/T NATOPS Evaluator serving under the Model Manager, and responsible for NATOPS Program Management and Aircrew Evaluations at VMGR-452, VX-20, VX-30, and Fat Albert Airlines.
In the spring of 2011, on a routine logistics run to Iwakuni, Japan, Captain Littleton and crew found themselves at 21,000 feet over Tokyo when ATC reported that an off-shore earthquake and subsequent tsunami reached the northeast coast of the country, resulting in a catastrophic change of events that turned into a thirty-day humanitarian mission named Operation Tomodachi.
With just under twelve years of active-duty, Captain Littleton decided to leave full-time service and join the Marine Corps Reserves, where he continued to serve with VMGR-234. In November of 2015, Major Littleton began his transition from the KC-130 legacy-aircraft to the J-model, and regained aircraft commander in the spring of 2016.
Major Littleton served with MAG-41 from the summer of 2016 to the fall of 2017, as the Officer in Charge of the Department of Safety and Standardization. Around this time, from the summer of 2017 through the end of 2018, he functioned as one of the JAGMAN investigating officers of the YANKY-72 class A mishap.
In January of 2019, Maj Littleton started his tour as the Executive Officer at VMGR-234 and served in that role until February of 2020 when he assumed command of the squadron.
LtCol Littleton resides in west Fort Worth, Texas. His personal decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, and the Humanitarian Service Medal.