Cmdr. Lawrence R. Hanks
Executive Officer, USS THE SULLIVANS (DDG 68)
31 July 2024
CDR Rod Hanks, a native of Mechanicsville, Virginia, enlisted in the Navy in 1998 as an Electronics Technician. In 2009 CDR Hanks was commissioned an Ensign through the Limited Duty Officer (LDO) Program, and in 2016 converted from LDO to Surface Warfare Officer. CDR Hanks is a graduate of Excelsior College where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Liberal Arts and the Naval War College in Newport, RI where he earned a Masters of Arts Degree in National Defense and Strategic Studies.
CDR Hanks’s sea duty assignments include USS BOXER (LHD 4) as 3M Coordinator, USS WAYNE E. MEYER (DDG 108) as Electronics Material Officer and Combat Systems Officer, Patrol Coastal Squadron One (PCRON 1) as Electronics Material Officer and N3, USS LASSEN (DDG 82) as Operations Officer, USS PATRIOT (MCM 7) as Executive Officer and Commanding Officer.
CDR Hanks served ashore at the US Navy Ceremonial Guard as Lead Training Instructor, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & IMF as a Navy Diver and Calibration Technician, and OPNAV N095 as the Deputy Executive Assistant to the Chief of Navy Reserve.
His awards and decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal (5 Awards), the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Navy Achievement Medal (4 Awards), and various campaign and service medals. CDR Hanks is an ASW/SUW Warfare Tactics Instructor, Halsey Graduate from the Naval War College, and two-time Arleigh Burke Leadership Award recipient.