Lt Col Mayer was born in Naperville, IL, 30 Aug, l955. He attended the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN. Completing a BS degree in Aero Eng and graduated as a DG from AFROTC, 21 May l977. Lt Col Mayer entered active duty in Sept l977 attending UNT at Mather AFB, CA. His first assignment was F 4E WSO, Hahn AB, West Germany, to Feb, l981. He was an Instructor Nav, Mather Air Force Base, CA, to March l982.

Lt Col Mayer attended Euro NATO JJPT, Sheppard AFB, TX. He graduated as ATC Commanders Trophy, DG, and Top Flying Excellence Award. He was assigned to the F 16A where he was a DG from both Lead In Fighter Training, and F 16A RTU. Lt Col Mayer was assigned to the 496 TFS, Hahn AB, where he served as flight examiner, qualified in both F 16A and C.

March 1987 Lt Col Mayer transferred to the 2872d Test Squadron, OgdenALC, Hill AFB, UT. He served as Ops Officer and was responsible for all flight operations of F 4, F 16, OV 10, and C 130.

In April 1989 Lt Col Mayer was assigned to the 8th TFW, Kunsan AB, Korea. He became the Wing Executive Officer.

In April 1990 Lt Col Mayer was selected to attend the US Army's Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS.

Lt Col Mayer was assigned to the HQ NORAD IG, Peterson AFB, CO. He inspected the readiness of U.S. active, reserve and Canadian forces assigned the air defense of North America. He maintained instructor pilot status in the F-16A ADF.

Lt Col Mayer was the Air Force Advisor to the 148 FG, Duluth, MN. From August 1994 to Dec 1994, Lt Col Mayer was on temporary assignment as Commander, 4404th OSS, Dhahran Air Base, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As Battle Staff Director, Lt Col Mayer was instrumental in the 4404’s ability to double the combat aircraft and triple personnel during the military buildup of Operation VIGILANT WARRIOR.

Lt Col Mayer was a Senior Pilot with over 3000 hours of flying time, including combat time over Iraq in support of Operations SOUTHERN WATCH and VIGILANT WARRIOR. He has been awarded the Defense MSM, the Air Force MSM with one Oak Leaf Cluster, and Air Medal among others.

In 1997, after a 20 year career in the Air Force, Lt Col Mayer embarked on a second aviation career with United Airlines, where he flew the B-727, B-737-200/300, A-320, B-767/757, accumulating over 10,000 as of December, 2010.