Board of Directors

Rear Admiral Milton (Jamie) Sands became the President of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation in February 2026.

Rear Admiral Sands is a native of Farmington, Connecticut and graduated from The United States Naval Academy in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science in Oceanography and was selected as U.S. Navy Federal Executive Fellow at Duke University in Durham, NC. He holds a Master’s in Military Strategy and Planning from the Joint Advanced Warfighting School in Norfolk, Virginia. 

His operational tours included surface warfare officer assignments onboard Newport-class tank landing ship USS Saginaw (LST 1188) and Spruance-class destroyer USS John Rodgers (DD 983).  After graduating Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL (BUD/S) training with class 203, he was assigned to SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1. Additional assignments include two tours with SEAL Team 2, and assignment to a joint task force in Afghanistan. Sands served as an operations officer for a joint task force in Iraq; chief of staff, Naval Special Warfare Group 2; and chief of staff, Naval Special Warfare Development Group. He commanded SEAL Team 8, a Joint Task Force in Iraq, and Naval Special Warfare Group 2.

Ashore Sands was a joint planner at Special Operations Command, Europe; a Counter Terrorism and Public Policy Fellow at Duke University’s Sanford, School of Public Policy as part of the Navy’s Federal Executive Fellowship program; director of Counter Terrorism and Operations for the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict; deputy operations officer, Joint Special Operations Command; and vice president, Joint Special Operations University. 

Sands’ flag officer tours include commander, Naval Special Warfare Command; chief of staff, U.S. Special Operations Command; commander, Special Operations Command Africa; and commander, Naval Service Training Command.