After being commissioned, Wholley attended The Basic School and competed training to become a United States Naval Aviator in 1968.[2] Trained in the F-4 Phantom II, he flew combat missions in the Vietnam War with VMFA-115 and VMFA-542 from February 1969 to February 1970, and was promoted to captain in July. Upon returning to the United States, he was assigned to VMFA-251 at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort as a pilot, and later, and as the legal officer to Marine Aircraft Groups 31 and 32. In January 1972, he was ordered to duty with the Royal Air Force at RAF Coningsby as an F-4 fighter weapons instructor. At the completion of this tour, he was allowed to attend law school at the University of Virginia, where he received his Juris Doctor degree in 1977.[citation needed]
After retiring from the military in 1996, he served as executive director of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. Wholley later was appointed as the General Counsel for NASA.[1] He served in this position from June 2004 to June 2014.[citation needed]