Lieutenant Colonel Louis “Shiner” Nolting is the Deputy Head, Department of Military and Strategic Studies, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. Prior to his current assignment, Lieutenant Colonel Nolting served as the Commander, 33rd Rescue Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Japan. There he led 71 airman and eight HH-60W Jolly Green II Combat Rescue Helicopters, providing rotary-wing combat search and rescue capabilities to combatant commanders in the Indo-Pacific theater of operations.

Lieutenant Colonel Nolting commissioned into the Air Force in 2006 as a graduate of the Academy. As a Wolfe scholar, he attended graduate school at CU Boulder. He earned his pilot wings at Fort Rucker in 2008. He has accomplished operational HH60G/W assignments at Kadena Air Base, Kirtland Air Force Base, and Nellis AFB and has held qualifications as mission pilot, flight lead, instructor pilot, and evaluator pilot. He has served multiple Combat Rescue deployments in support of Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and INHERENT RESOLVE as the deployed commander of the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron. His career highlights include flying combat search and rescue missions in support of allied forces in Afghanistan, serving as the Air Officer Commanding of Cadet Squadron 33, and the Commander of the 33rd Rescue Squadron.

He is a command pilot with more than 2,500 flying hours, including 288 combat hours, and over 1,000 instructor hours in the HH-60G/W, TG-16, and T-53. His Awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor and one Oak Leaf Cluster and the 2011 Mackay Trophy.

SWAMOS (Summer Workshop on Analysis of Military Operations and Strategy), Cornell University; the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies (2026)

PACAF Squadron Commander’s Course, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii (2023)

MA in Counseling and Leadership, IDE in residence, UC, Colorado Springs, Colo. (2018)

Air Command and Staff College, by correspondence (2018)

Squadron Officer School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. (2012)

MA in Early American History, Colorado University, Boulder, Colo. (2006-2007)

BS in Military History, U.S Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. (2002-2006)

Deputy Department Head and Instructor, Military and Strategic Studies; Instructor Pilot T-53, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. (2026-present)

Instructor, Military and Strategic Studies, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. (2025-2026)

Commander and HH-60G/W Evaluator Pilot, 33rd Rescue Squadron, Kadena AB, Japan (2023-2025)

Director of Operations and HH-60G Evaluator Pilot, 33rd Rescue Squadron, Kadena AB, Japan (2022-2023)

Director of Operations and HH-60G Evaluator Pilot, 66th Rescue Squadron, Nellis AFB, Nevada (2021-2022)

Commander, Cadet Squadron 33; Instructor Pilot TG-16, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. (2018-2020)

IDE Student, AFIT Master’s Program, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colo. (2018-2020)

Formal Training Unit Instructor/Evaluator Pilot HH-60G (Chief of Stan Eval, Deputy Chief of Group Stan Eval, Executive Officer), 512th Rescue Squadron and 58th Special Operations Group, Kirtland AFB, N.M. (2014-2017)

Flight Commander and HH-60G Instructor Pilot, 33rd Rescue Squadron and 18th Wing (Scheduling, Resource Advisor, Wing Flight Safety Officer), Kadena AB, Japan (2009-2014)

Student Pilot U/Th-1, T-6; Fort Rucker, Ala. and Laughlin AFB, Texas (2007-2008)

Wolfe Scholar, AFIT Master of Arts Student, Colorado University, Boulder, Colo. (2006-2007)

Meritorious Service Medal with Four Oak Leaf Clusters (2025)

Air Medal with Seven Oak Leaf Clusters (2010-2022)

Mackay Trophy, National Aeronautical Association, Smithsonian (2011)

Distinguished Flying Cross for Airmanship (2011)

Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor (April 2011)

Force Posture in USINDOPACOM (2023-Present)

Future of USAF CSAR (2023-Present)