On February 1, 1966, he deployed with VMF(AW)-235 ("The Death Angels") to DaNang Air Base and flew more than 200 sorties in the Vought F-8E Crusader during the Vietnam War.

Captured by the North Vietnamese near the city of Vinh Linh, Capt Swindle spent the next seven years being shuffled around various prison camps, including the notorious Hanoi Hilton complex.

[4] From late 2005 until August 2009, Swindle served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the law firm of Hunton & Williams LLP in Washington, D.C.[5] His specific charge was within the firm's Center for Information Policy Leadership, which was founded to "develop innovative, pragmatic approaches to privacy and information security issues from a business-process perspective while respecting the privacy interests of individuals."

The center has approximately 40 corporate members including American Express, Eli Lilly, GE, Microsoft, IBM, Procter & Gamble, and Wal-Mart.

On September 2, 2008, he gave the opening speech on the second day of the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota, during which he introduced veterans and fellow prisoners of war in the crowd.