Major Tonking graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2011 and served as an infantry officer in 3D Battalion, 7th Marines, first as a rifle platoon commander in Helmand, Afghanistan in 2013–14 and later as a theater security cooperation company commander in Jordan in 2015.
Since 2016, he has served as a special operations officer in Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command and deployed to Iraq in 2017, Iraq/Syria in 2019–20, and Taiwan in 2021. Major Tonking is currently contracting as a commercial seaplane pilot and attending helicopter flight school while transitioning to the Washington, DC, area and exploring opportunities in nonstandard aviation and the defense tech industry.
