He joined the Pancho Villa Expedition into Mexico in March 1916 and in December of the same year, was recruited to the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps at San Diego, California where he worked as a recorder.

In November of the same year he was given a job at Garden City, Florida, to train a heavy aircraft group, after which he relocated himself to Mitchel Field, New York.

In June 1927 he graduated from Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and then worked as Chief of Air Corps.

He then worked as the War Department General Staff till he became an assistant commandant in August 1936 at the Air Corps Primary Flying School at Randolph Field, Texas.

In 1940 he attended Basic Flying School at Moffett Field, California and next year received a title of commanding officer of the West Coast Air Corps Training Center.