Military career Edit
Nance served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years from 1981 to 2001, receiving several military decorations.[2][9] As a U.S. Navy specialist in Naval Cryptology, Nance was involved in numerous counter-terrorism, intelligence, and combat operations.[10][11][12] He garnered expertise within the fields of intelligence and counterterrorism.[13][14][15]
He was an instructor in wartime and peacetime Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE), training Navy and Marine Corps pilots and aircrew how to survive as a prisoner of war.[16][17] There Nance helped to initiate the Advanced Terrorism, Abduction and Hostage Survival course of instruction.[2]
Nance took part in combat operations that occurred after the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings, was peripherally involved with the 1986 United States bombing of Libya, served on USS Wainwright during Operation Praying Mantis and was aboard during the sinking of the Iranian missile boat Joshan, served on USS Tripoli during the Gulf War, and assisted during a Banja Luka, Bosnia air strike.[9]
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Edit
On 18 April 2022, Nance revealed that he had joined the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine in March 2022.[18][19]