CAPT Tad Wilson

CO's Biography

Captain Wilson was born into a military family and spent his childhood throughout the United States. He is a 1996 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering.

After receiving his commission, Captain Wilson served his initial tour as Engineering Officer of the Watch and Officer of the Deck aboard Coast Guard Cutter Thetis, executing law enforcement and drug and migrant interdiction missions in the Caribbean Basin. He attended Naval Flight Training in Pensacola, Florida, and served his first aviation tour flying the HH-65A helicopter at Air Station San Francisco, California. He was designated an Aeronautical Engineer and served as the Assistant Aeronautical Engineering Officer at Coast Guard Air Station Savannah, Georgia. In 2010 Captain Wilson earned a Master of Science Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University. He went on to be the Airworthiness Sustainment Branch Chief and Engineering Services Division Chief at the Aviation Logistics Center, assuring the airworthiness of the Coast Guard’s aging aviation fleet of over 200 aircraft. Captain Wilson then returned to the operational Coast Guard as the Engineering Officer of Air Station San Francisco before fleeting up to serve as Executive Officer. He then attended the US Naval War College where he earned a Master of Arts with distinction in National Security and Strategic Studies and was awarded the Bragg Award as the Coast Guard’s Honor Graduate. He most recently served as the Executive Assistant to the Assistant Commandant for Engineering and Logistics.

Captain Wilson has been happily married for 19 years to the former Patricia Otis of Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada. They are the proud parents of three awesome daughters, Emma Claire (13), Finley Laure (11), and Stella Lucienne (8).