Lieutenant Colonel Joseph A.  Johnson is the Professor of Aerospace Studies and Commander of Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps  (AFROTC) Detachment 012 at Samford University and 012A at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. In this capacity, Lieutenant Colonel Johnson serves as the head of the university's Aerospace Studies department, instructs senior courses on national security affairs and airpower history, supervises eight faculty and staff members, and has overall responsibility for training and mentoring more than 70 students preparing to become Air Force and Space Force officers.

Lieutenant Colonel Johnson received his commission as a second lieutenant through the Reserve Officers' Training Corps from the University of Memphis in 2004. He is a Master Navigator and B-1B instructor/evaluator with 2,290  hours which includes 1,130 combat hours. He has flown operational missions in support of Joint Interagency Task Force-South, deployed three times to Southwest Asia and once to the USINDOPACOM region supporting Operations ENDURING FREEDOM, FREEDOM'S SENTINEL, INHERENT RESOLVE, DELIBERATE RESOLVE as well as drug interdiction operations and Bomber Assurance and Deterrence missions.