The Combat Veterans For Congress PAC is endorsing Captain Erik A. Aadland, USMA ’02, USA as the 143rd endorsed Combat Veteran For Congress in 13 years.  He is running for the vacant Congressional seat of Cong Ed Perlmutter (D-CO-7) who recently announced his retirement.  CPT Aadland resides in Pine, Colorado.  Following graduation from the US Military Academy at West Point, he served his country proudly in the US Army for 8 years and 7 months.  CPT Aadland is a fiscally conservative candidate who will work to rein in the out-of-control spending by irresponsible Socialist Democrat members of Congress and will work toward reducing the national debt.  He supports strengthening the US Armed Forces, Freedom of Speech & Religion, the 2nd Amendment’s Right to Bear Arms, closing the wide-open southern border, The Free Enterprise System, and Pro-Life policies.  He opposes Critical Race Theory, Socialism, and increased taxes.  

Erik Aadland was born on January 4, 1980, in Huntsville, AL.  He grew up in an Army family and moved over twenty times from Alabama to Kansas, Texas, Virginia, Missouri, and Germany.  His father, Major General Anders B. Aadland, USA (Ret), was a career military officer for 34 years serving his country from 1969 to 2004; he held Brigade Command, Command of Fort Leonard Wood, MO, The Maneuver Support Center, and stood up the Installation Management Command.  

While matriculating in a DOD High School in Heidelberg, Germany Erik played football, baseball, tennis, and wrestled graduating in May 1998.  Erik received a Presidential appointment and entered the US Military Academy at West Point, New York in June 1998.  While at West Point, he rowed crew and participated in intramural football, rugby, and wrestling graduating on June 1, 2002, with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Philosophy.   

Cadet Erik Aadland was sworn into the US Army as a Second Lieutenant on June 1, 2002, at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York.  On July 7, 2002, 2nd LT Aadland reported to the US Army Armor Officer Basic Course at Fort Knox, KY, he completed training on November 22, 2002, and was transferred to Fort Hood, TX to the 3rd Armor Battalion, 66th Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division as an Assistant Operations Officer (A/S3).   

In March 2003, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 2nd LT Aadland departed from Ft Hood with the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Division for Bayji, Iraq as an Assistant Operations Officer.  Two months in theatre, 2nd LT Aadland assumed command of a Tank Platoon.  His Tank Platoon was responsible for patrolling the city of Bayji, Iraq; 2nd LT Aadland personally conducted over 200 combat missions which included several engagements with the enemy.  On December 1, 2003, 2nd LT Aadland was promoted to First Lieutenant.  Combat actions  occurred in and around Bayji, Iraq.  In March 2004, 1st LT Aadland returned to Fort Hood with the 1st Battalion and was assigned command of the Battalion Scout Platoon.  For combat operation he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal (with Combat “V”), Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Overseas Service Ribbon, Combat Action Badge, various Service and Campaign Medals.   He was subsequently assigned as Cavalry Troop Executive Officer (XO), then as Aide-de-Camp to the Deputy Commanding General of III Corps and Fort Hood.  

On February 1, 2005, 1st LT Aadland reported to Scout Platoon Leaders Course at Ft Knox, completing training on February 20, 2005, and returned to Fort Hood, TX.  On September 1, 2005, 2nd LT Aadland was promoted to Captain.   On October 15, 2006, CPT Aadland reported to Captain’s Career Course at Ft Knox, completing training on March 30, 2007.  On April 6, 2007, CPT Aadland reported to Calvary Leader’s Course in Ft Knox, completing training on April 29, 2007.  On April 30, 2007, he reported to the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division and served on the Brigade Staff as Assistant Operations Officer and Force Modernization Officer.   On November 16, 2008, CPT Aadland assumed command of C Troop, 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.  

In July 2009, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, CPT Aadland departed from Fort Lewis with C Troop, 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 5thStryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division as Stryker Reconnaissance Troop Commander (Company-sized element) to Spin Boldak, Afghanistan (Kandahar District).  His Command was responsible for the border crossing point between Afghanistan and Pakistan, considered the second most important strategic location in theater.  Combat actions occurred in and around Spin Boldak, in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan.  During his deployment, his Troop was visited twice by ISAF Commanders GEN Stanley McCrystal, and GEN David Petraeus.  In July 2010, CPT Aadland returned to Ft Lewis, WA with C Troop, and the 5th Stryker Brigade.  For combat operations he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Overseas Ribbon, the NATO Medal, various Service, and Campaign Medals.

CPT Aadland was posted to Ft Lewis and was assigned as Brigade Assistant Operations Officer (S3), Brigade Force Modernization Officer, then Troop Commander.  After relinquishing command as Troop Commander, he then served as Battalion Assistant Operations Officer (S3) while transitioning out of the Army; on January 1, 2011, he resigned from the US Army.  

Captain Erik Aadland’s  military awards include the Bronze Star Medal (with Combat “V”), Bronze Star Medal (Oak Leaf Cluster for 2nd award), Meritorious Service Medal (Oak Leaf Cluster for 2nd award), Army Commendation Medal (Oak Leaf Cluster for 2nd award), Army Achievement Medal, Overseas Service Ribbon (Bronze Star for 2nd award), the NATO Medal, the Combat Action Badge, various Service and Campaign Medals.

In June 2011, Erik Aadland accepted a position as Global Logistic Manager with Noble Energy, Inc. headquartered in Houston, TX, an upstream Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Production Company that explores for Oil and/or Natural Gas, then produces hydrocarbon to be sold to a midstream company for transportation to a refinery. In August of 2012, Erik transitioned to a drilling assignment in the Mediterranean offshore Israel, then in March of 2013 was transferred to the Colorado Denver Julesburg Basin as a Company Man assigned to drilling rigs in Northern Colorado.  In October of 2014, he was reassigned to the Denver office as a Drilling Engineer.  With the downturn of the oil markets in 2014-2015, Erik assumed a position as the Regional Procurement Manager.  In April 2017, he moved on to assume a role as Business Integration Manager, then finally culminated his career at Noble Energy as an International Project Manager (from September 2018 to May 2020).

Most significantly, Erik managed a $300 million project in Israel with geo-political implications, where he was in charge of the construction of a pipeline and condensate gathering facility; critical path for the $5 Billion Leviathan Project that has made Israel a net-exporter of natural gas.  He left Noble in May of 2020 to finalize his Master’s Degree in Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, in Carpinteria, CA; his MA was conferred in April 2021.  Prior to entering politics, Erik’s desire was to become a counselor working with veterans and other trauma-victims suffering from PTSD.

Erik Aadland is a member of the American Legion, the VFW, the NRA, the AMVETS, and the US Military Academy Alumni Association.  Erik has been endorsed by Cong Jack W. Bergman, LTG-USMCR (Ret) (R-MI-1), Cong Robert "Rob" Simmons, Col-USA/CIA (R-CT-Ret), Cong Paul Collins Broun, Cdr-USNR (MC) (R-GA-Ret), Cong Kerry Bentivolio, SFC/MI-ANG (R-MI-Ret), Colorado State Representative Andres Pico, Major General Anders B. Aadland, USA (Ret), Col Tom Duhs, USMC (Ret), and the Combat Veterans For Congress PAC.  Erik and his wife Megan of 15 years have two daughters, Radiance (age 7 years), Aria (age 4 years), and one son, Fen (age 10 months).

The Combat Veteran’s For Congress PAC is pleased to endorse Captain Erik A. Aadland, USMA ’02, USA who will bring to Congress extraordinary public sector and private sector skills and wisdom to better solve problems and represent the state of Colorado and the Republic.  If you review CPT Aadland’s positions on his web site, you will be pleased with his stands; they agree with the Combat Veterans For Congress Mission Statement.  We look forward to working with CPT Aadland and are pleased that a Combat Veteran of his caliber is running for the US House of Representatives.  

If you have friends, associates, or relatives who know voters in Colorado, kindly pass this e-mail on to them and ask them to support CPT Aadland by working in his campaign, providing financial support for his campaign in any amount, and/or by networking with others who would be willing to support his campaign.  The military is one of the few remaining institutions producing the caliber of men needed to restore this nation to the greatness our Founding Fathers envisioned.  We have endorsed another Combat Veteran For Congress that General George Washington would have approved of.  A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable “to The United States of America” for an amount “up to and including his life.”