Biography

Commanding Officer, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323
Lieutenant Colonel Brian R. Bayley

Lieutenant Colonel Bayley was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 2007 and was assigned to permissive temporary additional duty at the Officer Selection Office in St. Louis, Missouri prior to attending The Basic School (TBS). Upon completion of TBS, he was assigned to Marine Aviation Training Support Group 21 at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. Following introductory flight screening and aviation pre-flight indoctrination he was assigned to Training Squadron 10 and began primary flight training as a Student Naval Flight Officer.

Lieutenant Colonel Bayley completed primary and intermediate flight training with VT-10, training in the T-6 and T-1 aircraft. Upon completion of intermediate training, he reported to Training Squadron 86 for advanced flight training in the T-39. Lieutenant Colonel Bayley was selected to fly the F/A-18D Hornet and completed advanced flight training in the T-45 prior to earning his Naval Flight Officer wings in July of 2010. Following flight training, he reported to VMFAT-101 at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar for initial training in the F/A-18 Hornet.

Upon completion of his initial F/A-18 training at VMFAT-101, he reported to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan to serve as a Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) with VMFA(AW)-242. During his tour with the “Bats”, he held billets in the operations department as a schedule officer and in the maintenance department as the airframes division officer in charge. He deployed to support theater security cooperation exercises in multiple locations throughout the pacific area of responsibility (AOR) including Guam, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Thailand. In 2014 He completed the Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor course (TOPGUN).

Following his tour in Japan, he attended Expeditionary Warfare School in Quantico, Virginia and graduated in 2016. He received orders to MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina and reported to VMFA(AW)-533. He joined the “Hawks” on deployment to the CENTCOM AOR in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. He served as the airframes division officer in charge before attending the Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) course in 2017. Upon completion of WTI, he transitioned to the operations department as the WSO training officer. 

In 2018 Lieutenant Colonel Bayley deployed to MCAS Iwakuni in support of the unit deployment program. He took charge of the maintenance department as the aircraft maintenance officer while the squadron began their retrograde from the INDOPACOM AOR. He received orders to MAWTS-1 in the summer of 2019. During his tour he served as an F/A-18 Instructor and F/A-18 Division Head, as well as the platform subject matter expert for air-to-air missiles, radars and conventional air-to-surface weapons.

In the summer of 2022, Lieutenant Colonel Bayley reported to Headquarters Marine Corps Aviation as the F/A-18 Life Cycle Manager. In the summer of 2023, he received orders to Marine Aircraft Group 11 at MCAS Miramar. Lieutenant Colonel Bayley’s personal decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal-Strike/Flight, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.

Lieutenant Colonel Bayley is married to the former Katherine Southmayd of Hazelwood, Missouri. They have four children, Nicholas, Bennett, Eleanor, and Mallory.