Bio
Lt Col Spencer “Smokey” Beaumont hails from a proud military family lineage going back hundreds of years and was interested in military history from a young age. After Law School, he decided to “go for a soldier” and enlisted in the US Army eventually serving as an Infantry Non-Commissioned Officer in the 82nd Airborne Division and XVIII Airborne Corps G-3.
After a brief break in service, he applied for a commission in the Army, Navy, and Air Force and left for Officer Training School in 1999 after the Air Force came knocking on the door. Although a Space Weapons Officer, Lt Col Beaumont has spent most of his career as a kinetic strike air planner at the operational level, deploying and serving in the Combat Plans and Strategy Divisions of almost every Air Operations Center around the globe. He also spent several years as a Political Officer and Foreign Area Officer for Special Operations Command J-5 and worked with Special Operations Command Europe and Central on several missions. Additionally, he served as the Senior Chief of Operations in the SOCOM Global Mission Support Center where he daily briefed the Joint Chiefs on Special Operations activities and ended his time at MacDill AFB as the chief of the Special Operations Liaison Officer program selecting and training US Special Operators to work with allied nation SOCOM-equivalent organizations.
After teaching military history at the US Air Force Academy from 2016-2018, he was sent to work on a PhD and returned to the Academy in 2021. His dissertation is on the development of US Army Airborne doctrine in World War II.
In his free time, he enjoys outdoor activities with his wife of 26 years, Zoe. He is also a musician and writer having published fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Education
CIVILIAN
BA, European History (with honors), Sam Houston State University (1990)
JD, International Law, University of Houston (1993)
MA, European Security Studies (Distinguished Graduate & the Outstanding Air Force graduate), Naval Postgraduate School (2012)
PhD (all but dissertation), Modern Military History, Texas A&M University
MILITARY
Infantry School, One Station Unit Training, Ft Benning
US Army Airborne School, Ft Benning
Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Defense Course, Ft Bragg
Primary Leadership Development Course, Ft Bragg
Officer Training School, Maxwell AFB
Aerospace Basic Course, Maxwell AFB
Joint Air Operations Planning Course, Maxwell AFB
Space Intelligence Course, Schriever AFB
Combat Air Platform Employment Seminar, Nellis AFB
Squadron Officers School, Maxwell AFB
US Air Force Weapons School, Nellis AFB
Air Command & Staff College (non-residence)
Defense Language Institute (French), Presidio of Monterey
Foreign Area Officer Training, Naval Postgraduate School
Air War College (non-residence)
Research and Scholarly Interests
German Military History 1815-1945
British Military History 1750-1900
French Military History 1789-1962
History of Military Parachuting and Unconventional Operations
History of Elite Military Units
History of Uniforms