[4] Kelly was commissioned through the Reserve Officers' Training Corps program at Southwest Texas State University in February 1986.
He received his training for piloting the McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle from August 1991 to April 1992, under 461st Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona.
[4][6] As a colonel, Kelly served as vice commander of the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho from 2007 to 2008.
[4][9] In August 2018 Kelly was appointed as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations of the United States Air Force, also relieving Nowland in the post.
[6] As ACC commander, Kelly also oversaw the development of strategy, doctrine, concepts, tactics, and procedures for air, space, and cyber-power employment and assisted sister agencies with intelligence, surveillance and crisis response capabilities.
[15] At the same time, Kelly reaffirmed his commitment to shifting the fighter force to compete with China's, evolving from previous peer based adversaries such as Iraq and the Soviet Union.