CPT Charles Whitaker is an instructor in the Department of Mathematics at the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. He currently teaches MA103, Mathematical Modeling & Intro to Calculus. CPT Whitaker is an Aviation Maintenance Officer (15D) and is qualified as a maintenance test pilot (MTP) for the CH-47F Chinook helicopter.

After flight school, CPT Whitaker served his first assignment in the Republic of Korea on an extended three-year tour from May 2016 to March 2019. While on the peninsula, his operational assignments included: Adjutant, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade; Executive Officer, Bravo Company, 602ND Aviation Support Battalion; and Platoon Leader and Executive Officer, Bravo Company, 3-2 General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB). After completing AVCCC, CPT Whitaker moved to Fort Bliss, TX where in May 2020 he first took command of the air traffic services Foxtrot Company, 2-501st GSAB. After commanding the air traffic services company, CPT Whitaker transitioned in February 2021 to commanding the heavy lift helicopter Bravo Company, 2-501st GSAB.

CPT Whitaker commissioned from USMA in 2014, earning a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with an aeronautics focus. Post-command, he attended graduate school at University of California, San Diego, earning a M.S. in Aerospace Engineering in 2024.