Jason Neer

Senior Master Sergeant **Jason Neer** is a United States Air Force Battlefield Airman. Born in Tacoma, Washington, he grew up in a military family and moved to North Carolina where he grew up in Southern Pines. His father was a Combat Controller for the United States Air Force and became a strong inspiration for Jason to join the military. He spent two years at North Carolina State University before withdrawing to enlist into the United States Air Force in 2012.

He completed the Special Operations Weather Specialist Pipeline between 2012 and 2014 to join the Air Force Special Operations Community. There, Jason completed assignments with the 21st Special Tactics Squadron and later tried out for the 24th Special Tactics Squadron. In 2019, he completed training to become a Special Reconnaissance Operator and rejoined the 24th Special Tactics Squadron. Serving in various leadership positions within the squadron and Joint Special Operations Command, Jason is currently assigned to Task Force 199 as a Team Leader.

## Biography

### Military Career

Enlisting into the Air Force 2010, Jason completed Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base and then attended Special Operations Weather Selection Course to start his career as a Special Operations Weather Specialist. He completed the Special Operations Weather Apprentice Course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in 2011 along with other required training and then attended the Special Tactics Training Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Florida. Upon graduating from the Apprentice Course, Jason was awarded his Pewter Grey Beret and joined the Special Operations Weather community. He was assigned to the 10th Combat Weather Squadron stationed at Hurlburt Field in 2012.

Jason's first deployment was with a 7th Special Forces Group (A) ODA to Afghanistan in 2013 where he supported Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, he helped support Village Stability Operations and Foreign Internal Defense missions while also conducting combat operations. Being attached to an ODA allowed him a unique insight on how the two services worked together in operating around complex battlespaces. Returning in 2014, he was reassigned to the 321st Special Tactics Squadron at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, United Kingdom and was attached to a 10th Special Forces Group (A) ODA with a deployment back to Afghanistan in 2015 to support Operation Freedom's Sentinel. In-between training included United States Army Ranger School, the Marine Corps Basic Reconnaissance Course, along with the Riverine Assessment and Avalanche Forecast courses.

By 2016, he attended Assessment and Selection for the 724th Special Tactics Group and completed their Operator Training Course by 2017. Jason returned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina and was assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Blue Team. In addition to his Special Missions Unit training, he completed the Small Unmanned Aerial Systems course and the Navy Special Warfare Sniper Course along with a handful of other designated marksman rifle qualifications. Jason conducted his first deployment with an Environmental Reconnaissance Team to Syria where he conducted special reconnaissance and weather analysis in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. His next two deployments in 2018 were to Yemen where he supported clandestine operations with an interagency team.

By 2019, Jason reclassed his Air Force Specialty Code to become a Special Reconnaissance Airman. He completed the Special Reconnaissance Apprentice Course and the Central Intelligence Agency Advanced Surveillance Operations course by 2020. Returning to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, he was assigned to Silver Team as an Element Team Leader and ran clandestine operations across Africa.

In 2019, Special Operations Weather was reclassified to Special Reconnaissance. Jason completed the Special Reconnaissance Apprentice Course along with other specialized courses by 2020 and rejoined the 24th Special Tactics Squadron where he joined Silver Team as a Special Tactics Element Team Leader. He deployed to Africa where he worked extensively around Enduring and Non-Enduring Footprint bases in Central Africa with elements from Joint Special Operations Command. Jason supported the rescue of American citizen Philip Walton with both weather and area reconnaissance in October 2020. Follow-on deployments included Niger, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, South Korea, and Taiwan. He often worked alongside the Special Activities Center, Joint Reconnaissance Evaluation Group, Delta Force and Development Group in conduct clandestine reconnaissance, advance force operations, and operational preparation of battlefield. Jason continued to attend multiple courses where he completed the Combat Diver Supervisor Course, environmental survival courses, earned a degree from Norwich University, and learned Mandarin.

By 2022, Jason was assigned to the training cadre of the 724th Special Tactics Group where he ran both the Assessment and Selection and the Operator Training Course for two years. Returning to Silver Team as a Special Tactics Team Leader, he ran survey missions around Southeast Asia in Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines with a focus on China. Jason was requested by Major Foster Reed for Task Force - Advance Force Operations in the fall of 2024 where he supported Operation Blackadder in Ukraine and completed additional reconnaissance operations along the Russian border. With TF-AFO he was assigned as a Team Leader and led a mixed recce team with support from the Ukraine Armed Forces. Following the New Year's Offensive, he deployed with TF-AFO to southern Japan where he focused on Chinese activity in the South China Sea and the occupied islands.