Dr. Daniel Cutrer is a retired Coast Guard captain (O-6), with over 31 years of military service, and has been a faculty member at ERAU for over 15 years. He started his military career as an E-1, and along the way, he gained unique experience as an enlisted aircraft mechanic and flight engineer, a commissioned officer, a fixed-wing pilot, and an aviation safety/maintenance officer. His final assignment in the Coast Guard was as the Commanding Officer of the Aviation Technical Training Center where the service trains all of its aircraft mechanics, technicians, and Rescue Swimmers.(Some of the scenes in the 2006 Disney movie "The Guardian" were filmed at his prior command).

Earning his military aviator "wings of gold" in March of 1981, he has accumulated over 5,200 hours flying in fixed-wing aircraft, including the Beechcraft T-34C Mentor, the Beechcraft T-44A King Air, Grumman HU-16E Albatross, the Convair HC-131A Samaritan, and the Dassault HU-25A Falcon.  During his military career, he was involved in all aspects of aviation safety and aircraft maintenance, earning an FAA Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate and an FAA Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) Mechanic certificate.