Hayes served on seven sea tours, including commanding officer of coastal patrol ship USS Chinook (PC 9), commanding officer of former amphibious transport dock USS Ponce (LPD 15), and deputy commander of Amphibious Squadron (CPR) 3. He also had several shore tours, including flag secretary at Amphibious Group 2, commanding officer of Pre-Commissioning Unit Somerset (LPD 25), and Statistics and Allocation Branch head in PERS 45 at Naval Personnel Command. Prior to CTF 76, Hayes served as deputy director of OPNAV N173, the Equal Opportunity branch under the Navy‘s 21st Century Sailor office.