Colonel Crystal Hills is currently a Deputy Director for the Capstone Program, National Defense University.
COL Hills is a 1998 graduate of South Carolina State University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in English. She participated in SC State’s ROTC program where she served as Cadet Battalion commander and was subsequently commissioned (Distinguished Military Graduate) as a second lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps. COL Hills was first assigned to Fort Bragg, N.C., where she held the following positions: executive officer, automotive platoon leader, and technical supply platoon leader in the 503rd Maintenance Company, 1st Corps Support Command. She then served as supply officer and operations officer for the 264th Corps Support Battalion.
In 2003, COL Hills was assigned to Camp Humphreys, Korea, where she served in the following positions under the 23rd Area Support Group: supply and services officer, wartime host nation officer, and commander, 348th Quartermaster Company, 194th Maintenance Battalion. While in command, COL Hills earned the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award and was inducted into the Association of Quartermasters’ Honorable Order of Saint Martin.
In 2008, COL Hills earned a Master of Arts in English, with honors, from Georgia State University. She then served as an associate professor in the Department of English and Philosophy at the U.S. Military Academy. In 2011, she relocated to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and served as the brigade logistics officer for the 45th Sustainment Brigade and the executive officer, Special Troops Battalion, 45th SB. During this tour, she deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan. Upon redeployment, COL Hills was assigned to U.S. Army Pacific where she served as the command speechwriter. In 2014, COL Hills was reassigned to the Pentagon as the Logistics, special assistant to the director of Army Staff. While there she served on the Army Transition Team. COL Hills left the Pentagon to assume command of Army Field Support Battalion-Africa in Livorno, Italy, serving from 2016 to 2018.
COL Hills then was reassigned to Fort Knox, Kentucky, where she served one year as branch chief, Quartermaster Enlisted Personnel. She then attended war college at National Defense University’s Dwight D. Eisenhower School (Washington, D.C.). Here she earned a master’s degree in National Security and Resource Strategy (Global Supply Chain and Logistics Management concentration); supported COVID-19 relief efforts with the White House Supply Chain Task Force and as a mentor for John Hopkins’ COVID Design Challenge; and also earned a master’s degree in business administration from Webster University. In 2020, COL Hills served as senior supply & logistics officer (G4) for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Rapid Deployable Corps Headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey. While in this position, she was selected as a Defense Ventures Fellow where she aided Structure Capital and defense innovation hubs to leverage dual use technology. In 2021, COL Hills served as a Chief of Staff, Senior Fellow with New America (Washington, D.C.) where she advanced research in the Army’s adoption of semi-autonomous warehouses.
Most recently, COL Hills commanded the 405th Army Field Support Brigade where her unit provided strategic logistics support to Europe and Africa. As such her unit led the strategic resupply and maintenance mission for Ukrainian support operations.