Lieutenant Colonel Melendez received his commission as a Second Lieutenant from the United States Naval Academy in May, 2000 and subsequently reported to The Basic School and Logistics Officers Course. Following Logistics Officer Course in April 2001, Lieutenant Colonel Melendez was assigned to Truck Company, Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division in Camp Pendleton California as the Platoon Commander for 2nd Platoon. In June 2002, Lieutenant Colonel Melendez received orders to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 5th Marine Regiment and deployed to Okinawa, Japan as the Maintenance Management Officer for BLT 2/4, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from July 2002 to June 2003. Upon return, Lieutenant Colonel Melendez was assigned as 2/4’s Logistics Officer and deployed again with the battalion to Ar Ramadi, Iraq in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM from February to September 2004.
In November, 2004 Lieutenant Colonel Melendez received orders to Weapons and Field Training Battalion, Marine Corp Recruit Depot San Diego, aboard Edson Range Camp Pendleton where he served as the battalion’s Assistant Logistics Officer from 2004 to 2006 and the Field and Weapons Training Company Commander from 2006 until 2007. In July 2007 he reported to Marine Corps University to attend the Expeditionary Warfare School in Quantico, Virginia.
After graduating Expeditionary Warfare School in June 2008, Lieutenant Colonel Melendez reported to Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 1 (VMU-1), Marine Air Control Group 38, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in Twentynine Palms, California for duty as the Squadron Logistics Officer. In 2010, he deployed with VMU-1 to Helmand Province, Afghanistan in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM as the Squadron Logistics Officer and the Officer-in-Charge of the Scan Eagle UAS Detachment. Following the deployment in 2010, he received orders to Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC) Aviation in Arlington, Virginia. During his HQMC assignment, Lieutenant Colonel Melendez served as an Aviation Logistics (AVLOG) Strategy and Plans Officer and the UAS Logistics Lead in the Aviation Logistics Support Branch (ASL-40) from 2010 to 2013. Immediately following his HQMC tour, Lieutenant Colonel Melendez reported again to Marine Corps University as a Command and Staff College student in Quantico, Virginia.
Upon graduating from Command and Staff College in June 2014, Lieutenant Colonel Melendez reported to Combat Logistics Battalion 5 (CLB-5), 1st Marine Logistics Group (1st MLG) in Camp Pendleton, California for duty as the Executive Officer. In January 2015, Lieutenant Colonel Melendez deployed and assumed the billet of Officer-in-Charge, CLB-5 (FWD) as the Logistics Combat Element (LCE) for the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force, Crisis Response, Central Command (SPMAGTF-CR-CC) 15.1 rotation and supported Operation INHERENT RESOLVE. Returning from deployment in April 2015, Lieutenant Colonel Melendez was reassigned to the 1st MLG G-3 section where he served as the Current and Future Operations Officer. He served in the G-3 until April 2017 when he was assigned as the Officer-in-Charge of Combat Logistics Detachment 5 (CLD-5), the LCE for the SPMAGTF-CR-CC 17.2B rotation and deployed again in support of Operation INHERENT RESOLVE. After returning from deployment in April, 2018 Lieutenant Colonel Melendez was assigned as the Regimental Executive Officer for Combat Logistics Regiment 15 (CLR-15).
Lieutenant Colonel Melendez is married to Michelle Melendez (LtCol/USMC) of Grapevine, Texas and they have two daughters, Leila and Gabrielle.