John M. Gillette was commissioned a Distinguished Military Graduate with a BS from the University of Florida.  He served as an infantry officer with combat experience in Viet Nam before resigning from the service in 1976.  From 1976-1985 he worked with a national insurance holding company before leaving his position as a senior vice president to pursue a career as an independent businessman.  From 1985-2007 he built, owned and managed several different companies before selling and re-locating to Jacksonville, Florida.  In 2008-2010 he worked as a business consultant until being approached and hired by the then formative Ministry of Defense Advisors program being created within the Department of Defense.  Since deploying to Afghanistan with the initial MoDA team in July 2010 Mr. Gillette has served as the advisor to both the Deputy to the Assistant Minister of Defense for AT&L as well as their Director of Resource Management.