Our thirty-fourth recipient, Colonel (Ret) Christopher R. Escamilla, completed the AMP at Harvard Business School in June 2021. Chris retired from active duty after over 29 years of honorable and faithful service and assumed a position as the Chief Operating Officer for Mistral Inc., a privately held defense firm that seeks to bridge the gap between domestic requirements and technology solutions. As an artillery officer, his command tours include Engineer Support Company, 7th Engineer Support Battalion, Battery R, 5th Battalion, 11th Marines as a Captain; 3d Battalion, 11th Marines as a Lieutenant Colonel; Combined Arms Training Center (CATC), Camp Fuji, Japan as a Colonel. Additional operational tours include as a Forward Observer, Fire Direction Officer, Assistant Operations Officer, and Battery Executive Officer, 3d Battalion, 12th Marines; G-3 Tactics, Readiness, and Training (TRT) Officer, 1st Force Service Support Group; Deputy Assistant Fire Support Coordinator, 1st Marine Division; Force Fires Coordinator and Future Operations Officer, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU); Logistics Officer, and Operations Officer, 11th Marine Regiment. Chris’ staff tours include Company Grade Monitor, Manpower and Reserve Affairs (M&RA); Command Section Head, and Commanding Officer Basic Officer Course (BOC) 04-05 and BOC 02-06, The Basic School; Chief, Policy Coordination Branch, UC5 Policy, Combined Forces Command (CFC)/United Nations Command (UNC)/United States Forces Korea (USFK); N80 (Programming) Coordinator, and Deputy Director, Budget and Execution Division, Program and Resources (P&R) and Branch Head, Manpower Plans, Programs, and Budget, M&RA. Chris is a graduate of The Basic School, U.S. Army Field Artillery Officers Basic Course, Amphibious Warfare School, USMC Command and Staff College (Non-Resident Program), and the Marine Corps War College earning an MA in Strategic Studies. Chris holds a BA in Naval Architecture from the United States Naval Academy and a MA in National Security Studies from American Military University.
Chris and his wife, Heather, have four children.