Brian Petit serves Stellar Solutions with expansive experience as a leadership consultant, military commander, and special operations expert. He retired in 2017 as a US Army Special Forces Colonel, serving 25 years in infantry, airborne and special operations units. His broad expertise in leadership, strategy, planning and organizational culture make him an extremely versatile Stellar Advisor.
After an initial assignment as a light infantryman, Brian earned his Green Beret (US Army Special Forces) in 1997. Over the next twenty years, he commanded special operations units in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, The Philippines, Europe, and Africa. In sum, he served over five years in combat or conflict zones.
In 2013, Colonel Petit published Going Big by Getting Small: The Application of Operational Art by Special Operations in Phase Zero. His book was on the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Commanding General’s 2015 recommended reading list and is in use in both military and academic curricula. He has published in Special Warfare, Military Review, Small Wars Journal, and War on the Rocks.
Since his military retirement, he’s routinely served as a guest lecturer at both the Naval Postgraduate School and the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College. His lectures address the application of special operations in strategic competition, distributed mission command, irregular warfare, operating with or against irregulars, and campaign planning.
One of Brian’s hallmark projects involves teaching and consulting on resistance operations as part of a nation’s total defense scheme. This project has taken him to seven countries in Europe and to key spaces of the US interagency.
With a diverse and successful military career focused on strategic planning, global risk assessment, and international security operations, Brian brings unique cultural expertise, dynamic leadership, and international insight to help clients solve their critical needs.
