CAPT John Olmstead, USN (Ret.)

A native of Highland Mills, NY, Captain Allen “John” Olmstead Jr. joined the Naval Reserve in January 1962 while a student at Orange County Community College.  He completed “boot camp” at Great Lakes and served onboard the USS Miller (DD-535) as an Electronics Technician.  He was accepted by the Navy in the Reserve Officer Candidate (ROC) program while attending Tri-State College in Angola, IN and spent his junior and senior year summers in officer candidate training at Newport, RI.  Upon graduation from Tri-State with a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering, he was commissioned as an Ensign in March 1966, and was under Navy orders to report to the USS Betelgeuse (AK-260, a submarine tender) as the engineering officer.  While enroute to Betelgeuse, he was accepted as an aviator candidate and reported to Pensacola in April 1966.  He was designated a Naval Aviator Number T-10597 and Navy Helicopter Pilot Designator Number R-9145 on June 21, 1967, and reported to HC-4 Det Norfolk and subsequently became a plank owner in HC-6 flying the H-34 as a SAR pilot and the H-46 as a VERTREP pilot.  In addition to two Mediterranean cruises as a VERTRP detachment pilot, LT Olmstead served as Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of a three aircraft shore-based detachment in Jacksonville for over a month transporting student Naval Aviators undergoing carrier landing qualifications to a fleet aircraft carrier operating over 100 miles offshore.  In June 1972 LT Olmstead was awarded a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering by the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.  He was one of the few NPS students with piston engine helo experience and was quickly certified as an H-34 NATOPS instructor pilot while a student.

In July 1972 LT Olmstead reported to the first LAMPS MK1 squadron, HC-5/HSL-31, at NAS Imperial Beach, CA.  He served as the Personnel Officer and an OIC instructor.  A plank owner in HSL-33, he was OIC of the first LAMPS detachment to deploy onboard a Pearl Harbor, HI based ship.  This eleven-month WESTPAC cruise involved six detachment cross decks to seven different ships.  As a result of this highly successful and unique deployment, the primary ship received the LAMPS Ship Safety Award, HSL-33 received the Captain Arnold Jay Isbell Trophy for ASW excellence, and LT Olmstead was honored as the 1975 Naval Helicopter Association Pilot of the Year.  The information from this detachment was used by AIRPAC as they were evaluating the potential formation of a LAMPS MK1 squadron in HI.

Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Olmstead reported to the staff of Commander Naval Air Test Center (NATC) at NAS Patuxent River in February 1975, and subsequently to Commander Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) as the Test and Evaluation Coordinator for all Navy helicopter research and test programs.  Following his graduation from the Naval Test Pilot School in June 1977, LCDR Olmstead served as the NATC LAMPS MKIII Program Manager.  He piloted the first Navy flight and was the first NATOPS qualified pilot of the SH-60B Seahawk, is listed in Jane’s Who’s Who in Aviation and Aerospace: U.S. Edition and is a member of The Society of Experimental Test Pilots.  He served 8 mishap-free years as an experimental test pilot.

Commander Olmstead served as the Executive and Commanding Officer of HSL-32 in Norfolk VA between February 1981 and February 1984.  Following this award-winning command tour he was designated as an Aeronautical Engineering Duty Officer – a restricted line officer designator 1510 and ordered as the LAMPS MKIII deputy program manager in PMA-266 at NAVAIR between March 1984 and May 1986.  As a Captain he commanded the Systems Engineering Test Directorate at NATC between May 1986 and July 1988.  He then reported as a student to the International College of the Armed Forces (ICAF) in August 1988, and then as the Major Program Manager (PMA-263) for Navy Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) at NAVAIR from June 1989 to July 1993.  This tour was followed by serving four years as the Military Executive Director for Naval Aviation Engineering Operations (AIR-05B/AIR-4.0B).  He was immediately recalled from statutory retirement on 1 July 1996 by the Secretary of the Navy to continue in this role an additional year.  After military retirement in July 1997, he worked for 21years as a Senior Systems Engineer for Sverdrup Technology/Jacobs Engineering under contract to the Department of Defense and the Navy Department, ending in 2018. 

He is authorized to wear the Defense Superior Service Medal; three Meritorious Service Medals; two Meritorious Unit Commendations; three Navy “E” Ribbons; the National Defense Service Medal; the Sea Service Ribbon; and the Tunisian Order of the Republic, Grade of Knight Medal.

Not unlike the house the Olmsteads physically built in Oakton VA during 1984, they built their forever dream home on Lake Tillery in North Carolina during 1999/2000.  About 10 years later, following several weeks in the hospital with prostate cancer and then a perforated colon 2 years later, it was clear that Martha (his wife of 50 years then) could not maintain the waterfront sea wall, boat house, boats, lawn, etc. without expensive outside help.  They bought into a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) in Laurinburg, NC in 2014, and sold the lake house.  While living at the lake the Olmsteads bought a motor home and replaced it in 2016 after moving into the CCRC. They enjoy traveling in the motor home and spend 4 to 5 months each year on the road.  They normally spend 3 winter months in Punta Gorda, Florida.

Captain Olmstead has been involved with or interested in auto racing since he was a teenager.  He became an avid NASCAR fan in the early 1990s and has attended over 100 NASCAR races.

In civilian life, his responsibilities included 6 years as Chair of the Montgomery County NC Planning Board; 18 years as Director and President of a non-profit HOA; 6 years as a Presbyterian Church Elder; and 6 years as a Governor appointed Director and Treasurer of the Community Resource Council at the NC Correctional Facility in Troy NC.  He served two years as President of the CCRC Resident’s Association and has dedicated over 10 years as a community representative, statewide VP, President and Past President of the North Carolina Continuing Care Residents Association (NorCCRA), a 5,700+ member volunteer organization protecting the rights of residents living in North Carolina CCRCs.

John and Martha have been married for over 60 years, and have 3 adult children residing in Maryland, Michigan and California, and five living adult grandchildren.