COMMANDER JOHN COSMOS PETER FRISTACHI
United States Navy
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Commander Fristachi, a native of Long Island, New York, was commissioned on 26 October 1984 from Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida. After earning his wings of gold in April 1986, he was selected for F-14 training and has since completed 4 deployments in the F-14A and B aircraft. His Nugget squadron tour was with the VF-103 “Sluggers” at NAS Oceana, Virginia. He was then assigned as an adversary ACM instructor with the VF-43 “Challengers”, flying F-16N, F-5 and A-4 aircraft. While assigned to VF-43, he served on the Commander, Fighter Wing Atlantic staff as Officer-in-Charge of Oceana TACTS, and Adversary Program action officer. His “Super J.O.” tour was with the “Diamondbacks” of VF-102, also at NAS Oceana, followed by a department head tour with the VF-213 Fighting “Blacklions” at NAS Miramar, San Diego CA. In VF-213, he served as Operations Officer and Aircraft Maintenance Officer. He subsequently attended the United States Naval War College before assignment to Washington, DC, where he served as a Liaison to the House and Senate Defense Appropriations Committees. In that capacity, his responsibilities included handling of all major procurement appropriations for the Navy, totaling over $19B annually. From that position he was selected by the DCNO, Warfare Requirements and Programs (N7) as his Deputy Executive Assistant. He was screened for Command in September 2001, and was assigned to the "Red Tails" of Fleet Composite Squadron 8 in Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. He has logged over 3,100 hours of flight time in tactical fighter aircraft, over 550 carrier arrested landings, and was recently designated an “Unrestricted Aviator” following NATOPS qualification in the TH-57 and UH-3H aircraft. He is a graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School Power Projection course, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the United States Naval War College.
His personal decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), Strike Flight Air Medal (two awards), the Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and the Navy Achievement Medal (two awards).