Austin's military career is anything but typical,

spanning three branches of the armed forces. He began in the U.S. Navy in 1998, then transferred to the U.S. Army in 2002 through the blue-to-green program. Over 13 years in the Army, he served in light infantry, human intelligence, and counterintelligence roles. He finalized his military career in the Air National Guard's Air Support Operations Squadron.

 

In 2004, Austin completed the Army's green-to-gold program, earning his commission through the Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, GA. The very next day, he was recruited by the CIA for global counterterrorism operations. In Iraq and Afghanistan, he led missions to establish forward operating bases, relying solely on local resources until U.S. logistics could catch up, doing more with less. Within those first five years, he worked at the Terrorism Research Center and Total Intelligence Solutions, two DC think-tanks.

 

In 2009, Austin returned to Texas to study at the University of Texas at San Antonio, but was soon recruited by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Working in Tampa, FL, and Washington, DC until 2013, as an operations integration specialist and all-source analyst, supporting Joint Special Operations Command and the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan & Africa.