Colonel John Moder grew up in North Kingstown, RI. He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1993. Col Moder was commissioned a Second Lieutenant upon graduation from the Virginia Military Institute in 1998 and was designated an Infantry Officer in May 1999.
Colonel Moder’s first active-duty assignment was with the 2d Marine Division; first with Company G, 2d Battalion, 2d Marines as Executive Officer, and then as a Riverine Assault Platoon Commander with 2d Small Craft Company.
Colonel Moder served in II MEF, 2d Force Reconnaissance Company, from September of 2002 until December 2005. He deployed as a Force Reconnaissance Platoon Commander during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 with Task Force Tarawa and again as part of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Maritime Special Purpose Force to the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Gulf in 2005.
Colonel Moder was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marines in May 2006. While at 1/6, he served as a Rifle Company Commander from 2006 until 2009, deploying to Ramadi, Iraq and Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Colonel Moder attended MARSOC Assessment and Selection in 2009 and has since served as a Marine Special Operations Company Commander at 3d and 2d Marine Raider Battalions. He deployed MSOC H to Herat, Afghanistan in 2012 with SOTF 81.2.
Colonel Moder was assigned to USSOCOM from July of 2014-August 2017, where he served as a Program Manager in the J-33 Maritime Section.
Colonel Moder returned to MARSOC in August of 2017 where he was assigned to the Marine Raider Training Center as the Executive Officer. During this tour, he deployed with Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Iraq, in support of the Operation INHERENT RESOLVE, as the CJSOTF’s Deputy Commanding Officer.
Colonel Moder served as the Commanding Officer for Marine Corps Security Force Battalion Bangor, WA from June 2019 until June 2021.
From June 2021 until June 2025, Colonel Moder served as Military Faculty at the Marine Corps’ Command and Staff College and as an Assessment Director at the USSOCOM Headquarters J-8.
On 25 June 2025, Colonel Moder assumed command of Marine Corps Security Force Regiment