He joined the United States Air Force in 1958, and served until 1960, when he joined the Oregon Air National Guard. Smith then earned a bachelor of arts degree from Willamette in 1961. He returned to the Air Force in 1962 and remained there until 1967, serving as a fighter pilot in the Vietnam War. In the war, he flew the F-4C Phantom and completed about 180 missions. Smith remained in the aviation field as a flight engineer and co-pilot for a commercial airline, flying from 1967 until 1976.