Preparing for Wartime Acquisition

Ms. South is a Professor of International Acquisition within DAU's International Center. She began her career at the Naval Air Systems Command, where she held several Program Management and Logistics positions within the Foreign Military Sales community. From 2009 to 2023, Ms. South supported the U.S. Pacific Fleet as the Command's Foreign Security Assistance and International Logistics Manager and the U.S. Army Pacific as a Security Cooperation Strategist. Ms. South is a 2020 graduate of the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy.

A native of Flint, Michigan, Captain Croxson is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry, concurrently commissioned on 19 June 1992 through the NROTC Program at the University of Michigan.

      Designated a Naval Flight Officer in January 1994 at NAS Pensacola, Florida and was trained as an EA-6B Electronic Counter Measures Officer (ECMO) at VAQ-129 in Whidbey Island, Washington and assigned to VAQ-135 in June of 1995. He completed three deployments to the Western Pacific on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), and USS Carl Vinson (CVN-74). 

      Leaving Whidbey Island in 1999, he joined VX-9 in China Lake, California.  He was assigned as the Foreign Military Exploitation (FME) Officer, EA-6B ICAP III Project Officer, and TEAMS Officer. 

      After graduating with class 120 from the U. S. Naval Test Pilot School in December 2001 he was assigned to Strike Aircraft Test Squadron where he was the Lead project officer for the ICAP III project during intial development.

      As a dept head in VAQ-140 he completed combat deployment onboard the USS George Washington (CVN-73) supporting OIF and OEF and one in an expeditionary role in Iwakuni Japan supporting PACOM.

      His next assignment as ICAP III Fleet Introduction Team during the initial fielding of the newest EA-6B ICAP III aircraft at CVWP,  his team successfully trained and equipped two new ICAP III squadrons and transitioned them to the ICAP III BLK 2 which incorporated MIDS and brought the EA-6B community into the link community. 

      After a one year Individual Augmentee (IA) mission to help support the Army and Marine Corps against the RCIED threat in Iraq working for JCCS-1, he returned once again to Strike now renamed VX-23 and combined the EA-6B and EA-18G shops into a single efficient Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) center of excellence. In addition, he managed the combined test teams which transitioned the EA-18G program from Developmental Test to Operational Test. 

      He completed his tour with PMA 265 as the SCS Lvl II co-lead in charge of software for the fleet of 1,500 F/A-18A-F and EA-18G aircraft and was assigned to PMA 234 as the Next Generation Jammer Level I IPT Lead.

      CAPT Croxson was the Multifunctional Information Distiribution System (MIDS) Program Office (PMA/PMW-101) Program Manager from May 2015 until June 2019. 

      He began a short tour as the NAVWAR Executive assistant from June 2019 to June 2022 and he concurrently became the Program Manager, Project Overmatch Systems Integration and Acquisition on November 18, 2021. 

      After 30 years of dedicated service he was selected to be a Senior Military Acquisition Advisor (SMAA) and is currently working for the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research Development and Acquisition (ASN RDA). 

CAPT Croxson has over 3,000 hours of flight time in 30 different aircraft, of which over 2,200 are in the EA-6B. He has been awarded the Legion of Merit (two awards), Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medals (two awards), Air Medal Strike/Flight (five awards), Navy Commendation Medals one with combat “V” (three awards), Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medals (two awards) and various other personal and unit awards. He is a life time member of The United States Naval Institute, Association of Old Crows, Tailhook Association, and the United States Navy Marksmanship Team. 

       CAPT Croxson and his wife, Deborah, live in Opelika, Alabama and have two sons Robert and John.