Major Michael T. “Billy” Squier is an Intelligence Officer assigned as the Squadron Chief of Intelligence and B-Flight Flight Commander at the 108th Attack Squadron in Syracuse, New York. Native to Metro Detroit, he is the youngest of five children in a “military family.” Major Squier is preceded in the United States Armed Forces by his grandfather, a Corporal in the United States Army Corps of Engineers during World War II; his father, now a retired Captain of the United States Army; his eldest sister, a retired Captain in the United States Navy; and his brother, a retired First Sergeant in the Michigan Army National Guard. Major Squier spent the majority of his childhood in Fraser, Michigan and, in June 1999, he was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.
Upon initially enlisting as an Airman First Class in 2001 at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, Michigan, Major Squier trained as an Imagery Analyst and deployed twice in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. In 2007, he transferred to the Florida Air National Guard where he provided on-site support during a multitude of disaster response operations including the California Wild Land Forest Fires of 2007 and 2008; tornadoes in the States of Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee; the uncontrolled reentry of a U.S. Satellite over the Contiguous United States; Hurricanes Gustav and Ike; Operation UNIFIED RESPONSE in support of Haitian earthquake relief efforts; and the multi-agency response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. In September of 2010, he completed training at the Airey Non-Commissioned Officer Academy as a Distinguished Graduate and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Emergency and Disaster Management from American Military University.
Following the completion of his undergraduate studies, Major Squier transferred to National Guard Bureau (NGB) in Washington D.C. where he was responsible for the National-level coordination of remote sensing and domestic imagery collection following Hurricanes Isaac, Irene, and Sandy, as well as the first ever use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) in a domestic operations capacity following the Rim Fire in Northern California. Having achieved the enlisted rank of Master Sergeant during this time, he was selected to attend Basic Officer Training at Maxwell AFB in 2013, where he would earn a commission as Distinguished Graduate in September of that year. Following Intelligence Officer Training, Major Squier moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan for an assignment at Battle Creek Air National Guard Base, Michigan to aid the unit there in its conversion to the MQ-9 Reaper mission. In 2018, he transferred once again, this time to the New York Air National Guard, for an assignment with the 174th Attack Wing, initially supporting overseas remote-combat operations, before being selected to manage Intelligence, Weather, Communications, Aircrew Resource Management, and Contractor Oversight at the 108th Attack Squadron’s Formal Training Unit (FTU).
