John was commissioned in May of 1994 after graduating from the United States Naval Academy. After successfully completing the Combat Engineer Officer’s course, then 2ndLt Peterson was assigned to Bravo Company, 7th Engineer Support Battalion at Camp Pendleton. As an engineer platoon commander, Col Peterson had three successful deployments to the CENTCOM and INDOPACOM theaters as part of 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
In 1998, Col Peterson received orders to India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. Promoted to Captain in August of 1998, Col Peterson served as a Series Commander until he left active duty and joined the inactive ready reserve in October of 1999 in order to join a start-up company designing optical telecommunications equipment.
In 2002, Col Peterson joined the Select Marine Corps Reserve with 4th Force Service Support Group (FSSG) Forward West at Camp Pendleton. He served as the training officer until he was recalled to active duty with the 1st FSSG in Early 2003 and deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom with the FSSG G4, serving first as the deputy, and then as the logistics officer for FSSG (Forward.)
Col Peterson returned from OIF in October of 2003 and was assigned as the Information Management officer for 1st FSSG and as the command’s representative for the newly created technology evaluation organization, the MEF G9. In August of 2004, he was promoted to Major and assigned to the FSSG G3 as the assistant operations officer until he was released from active duty in July of 2005.
Col Peterson transferred to MWSS-473 in July of 2009 and took command of the Airfield Operations Company and upon his promotion to LtCol in March of 2010, LtCol Peterson assumed the responsibilities as the MWSS-473 Executive Officer. In February of 2012, Col Peterson left MWSS-473, received orders and deployed as the Chief of Current Operations for US Forces-Afghanistan. Returning to the US late in 2012, Col Peterson was selected to serve as the Commanding Officer of MWSS-472.
After a successful 30-month command tour, Col Peterson was selected for promotion to Colonel and served in the 4th Marine Logistics Group G3, focused on operational logistics planning focused on the Korean Peninsula. In March of 2018, Col Peterson assumed the role of Deputy Commander of Combat Logistics Regiment -45 and was mobilized to serve as the Regimental Commander. In March of 2020, Col Peterson returned to 4th MLG as the G3, and in June of 2021 he transferred to 1st Marine Expeditionary Force IMA detachment to serve as the G4 for 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, where he focused on contested logistics for the INDOPACOM theater of operations.
Retiring from the Marines Corps in June of 2024, he now consults for DoD as an energy technology and acquisition subject matter expert and owns his own energy technology focused firm.