Colonel Eric Steele is the Commander of Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Detachment 880 and the Professor of Aerospace Studies (PAS) at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. He leads a team of 10 active-duty faculty members, staff, and civilian administrative personnel responsible for educating, training, and developing more than 150 cadets from four universities into leaders and future officers for the United States Air Force and United States Space Force.

Colonel Steele entered active duty in February 2001 through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program at California State University, Fresno and completed undergraduate pilot training in August 2002. He has served in multiple operational flying assignments and deployed in support of United States geographic combatant commands and named operations, including Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He also served twice on the Headquarters United States Air Forces in Europe–Air Forces Africa staff at Ramstein Air Base, Germany and previously commanded at the squadron level with NATO’s Alliance Ground Surveillance Force in Italy. He is a Joint Qualified Officer and command pilot with more than 2,100 flight hours, primarily in the RQ-4 Global Hawk and E-3 Sentry. Prior to his current assignment, Col Steele served as commander of the 319th Operations Group at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota and oversaw RQ-4 and E-11 operations worldwide.