Captain Erik Stohlmann graduated from high school in Fort Worth, TX before attending the
United States Naval Academy. He was commissioned in 1992 after earning a Bachelor of
Science in Political Science. Following the Naval Academy, he was assigned to NAS Pensacola,
FL for Flight Training. After designation as a Naval Flight Officer, he was assigned to the S-3B
Fleet Replacement Squadron (VS-41 Shamrocks) at NAS North Island, San Diego.
His initial fleet tour was with the VS-21 Fighting Redtails (CAG-5) at NAF Atsugi, Japan and embarked on USS INDEPENDENCE (CV-62). Afterwards, he was an S-3B Flight Instructor at
VS-41 in San Diego, CA. While an Instructor, he was awarded the S-3B Viking Instructor of the
Year by the community leadership, squadron peers and students.
His next assignment was at U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Manama, Bahrain, as the
Tomahawk Cruise Missile Planning Officer and Targeteer. As the TLAM Planning Officer, he was responsible for the development and distribution of all Tomahawk missions flown during
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM as well as numerous contingency operations in the CENTCOM
AOR.
He served as Squadron Department Head with the VS-33 Screwbirds (CAG-9) and deployed aboard USS CARL VINSON (CVN 70). Following his Department Head tour, he graduated with honors from the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA and the Spanish War College in
Madrid, Spain. While a student in Madrid, he was selected for redesignation as a Navy Foreign
Area Officer.
Captain Stohlmann’ s staff assignments include EUCOM J5 in Stuttgart, Germany and the Bureau of Naval Personnel-Three, Military Officer Community Management in Millington, TN. At
EUCOM, he was the Deputy European Policy Division Chief managing the POL-MIL portfolios for 41 of the 51 EUCOM AOR countries from 2008 to 2011. In Millington, he served as the
Navy Foreign Area Officer Community Manager from 2011 until 2013.
He is currently the Military Associate Dean of the School of International Graduate Studies
(SIGS) at the Navy Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.
Captain Stohlmann has completed four deployments to the Western Pacific and Arabian Gulf with more the 650 carrier arrested landings and over 2800 flight hours. He is a qualified
European region Foreign Area Officer with German and Spanish as his control languages. He has been awarded the Bronze Star, the Joint Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation
Medal four times, the Navy Achievement Medal twice as well as numerous unit and theater decorations.