He served during the Vietnam War, where he instructed students on piloting the F-14 Tomcat, and later became an instructor at the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN).

At the time of his retirement in 1999, Bien was the highest-ranking naval officer in South Dakota history,[1] as well as the state's first three-star admiral.

Ahead of his deployment, he received further training with the F-4 Phantom Fleet Replacement Squadron at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

[2] Although he initially signed on for three years, Bien opted to stay when given the opportunity to be one of the first pilots to fly the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

Several officers raised concerns that Hultgreen's mistakes during training had been overlooked in favor of pushing her through as the Navy's first female fighter pilot.

In 1995, Bien was sent to San Diego to investigate and reported that the allegations were likely true, and that female pilots were to be pushed through training regardless of their scores.

[7] However, Bien also stated he "found no small number of VF-124 instructors who were emotionally predisposed to see women aviators fail".

President Bill Clinton deployed Bien's command to the Taiwan Strait to stop missile drills being carried out by mainland China.

[4] During a trip to South Dakota while they were engaged, Cathy was involved in a horseback riding accident and was left paraplegic.