CAPT Steve “Bug” Hnatt, native of Galveston County, TX, enlisted in 1984. He served as an Avionics Technician maintaining A-7E Corsair II and F/A-18A aircraft based at NAS Cecil Field, FL. deploying multiple times in USS Theodore Roosevelt, including Operation Desert Storm.  Upon graduating with High Honors from Florida Community College in Jacksonville, FL in 1993, he was selected for the Navy’s Enlisted Commissioning Program. He earned Top Graduate Honors in the Engineering Technology program at Texas A&M University and commissioned in 1996. 

Upon winging in 1997 he was detailed to the E-2C Hawkeye platform, where he would serve three squadron tours (VAW’s 126, 121, and 123), deploying on USS Enterprise twice and USS Harry S Truman, including combat operations in the Middle East and Adriatic. His shore tours include Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC), Hawkeye Weapons and Tactics Unit (WTU)(OIC), ACCLOGWING Det Norfolk (OIC), and Joint Information Operations Warfare Center (JIOWC).  He is a Hawkeye WTI and USMC MAWTS-1 WTI. 

CAPT Hnatt re-established VT-4 and introduced the Undergraduate Military Flight Officer (UMFO) syllabus while commanding VT-10 in 2013-14, winning the CNATRA Training Excellence award in 2013.  He graduated from the Eisenhower School in 2015 with a Masters in National Strategy and Resourcing, and served aboard USS Abraham Lincoln from 2015-2017 as the Operations Officer, returning the carrier to the fleet following a refueling and complex overhaul.

CAPT Hnatt has mission flight time in the E-2C, EA-6B, F/A-18, F-16, UH-1, AH-1, E-3, E-8, T-6A, and T-39.  Bug and Melissa reside in Corpus Christi, TX.