Prior to joining the NESA Center he served as the National Security Council’s senior director for Afghanistan from 2007- 2009 under both the Bush and Obama administrations. Wood served 28 years in the United States Army as an armor officer, retiring as a colonel. Prior to his time at the National Security Council, he served in the Pentagon as the assistant deputy director for Politico-Military Affairs–Asia on the Joint Staff. He was previously an assistant professor of operations research at the Army Logistics Management College and was later the division chief for Army Well Being on the Army staff. From 2002-2003, he served as the military assistant to the acting secretary of the Army. He is the co-author of From Kabul to Baghdad and Back: The U.S. at War in Afghanistan and Iraq (U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2012).