He transferred to the Aviation Section of the Army Signal Corps and was promoted to sergeant in the 59th Balloon Company in March 1919.

[5] After graduating from the Air Corps Tactical School in June 1937 and the Command and General Staff School in June 1938,[6] he served as a military attaché at the American Embassy in Lima, Peru from July 1939 until October 1942, acting as the senior neutral military observer on the Peruvian side after their boundary war with Ecuador.

During his stint, he led 178 B-24s in "Operation Tidal Wave" – the bombing raid on the oil fields at Ploieşti, Romania, on August 1, 1943.

[4] In September 1944, Ent selected Lieutenant Colonel Paul Tibbets to form and train an organization to drop atomic weapons from B-29 bombers.

After his retirement from military service, he studied to have a career in law; he also experimented with materials to develop lightweight braces for paraplegics.

[9] He died at Fitzsimons General Hospital in Aurora, Colorado, on March 5, 1948, due to complications from the injuries he sustained in the plane crash.