After completing Ranger and Special Forces training, he served primarily with infantry units before transferring to the Engineer Branch of the U.S. Army in 1983.

In September 2003, he returned from a six-month tour of duty in Iraq as the Deputy Director of Operations for the Coalition Provisional Authority.

As the Chief of Engineers, Strock was at the center of attention concerning issues surrounding the flooding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In June 2006, General Strock accepted responsibility on behalf of the Corps for the failure of the flood protection, calling it "a system in name only.

He joined Bechtel in 2007 and is principal vice president, serving as project director of the U.S. Department of Energy uranium processing facility at Oak Ridge, TN.