Slavick enlisted in the United States Air Force in August 1982 and accessed to basic training in December of the same year. Upon completing basic training and specialized training at the USAF Security Police Academy, he was assigned in May, 1983 to Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, charged with security of Minutemen II ICBM systems. In the summer of 1985, he was transferred to Soesteberg Air Base, Netherlands, for a three-year assignment as a patrolman, desk sergeant and flight chief. His next stop was Iraklion Air Station, Crete, Greece. He served as flight chief and the noncommissioned officer in charge of Greek customs and tax enforcement during a four-year stay there. In June 1999, Slavick was elected for change-of-station orders to Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs, CO, where he served as a US Space Command and Air Force Space Command Elite Guardsman.

Selected to attend Officer Training School in October, 1982, Slavick departed Colorado for training in San Antonio, TX. He was named a Distinguished Graduate from Officer Training School and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in May of 1993. His first assignment as an officer was Andersen AFB, Guam where he completed four years serving as an adjutant, squadron section commander and wing executive officer. Following Guam, he was assigned to the Defense Language Institute, Foreign Language Center in Monterey, CA, where he was a school operations officer and the director of end-of-course testing programs. After a three-year tour in Monterey, Slavick moved to Eglin Air Force Base, FL where he served as a wing section commander and as the chief of military personnel.

In the summer of 2003, he was selected to serve on the USAF Headquarters Staff and transferred to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. While assigned to the Pentagon, Slavick was responsible for policy and direction for all of the USAF commissioning programs. In 2006, he was selected for a one-year in-residence Master.s Degree program and upon completion was named as the commander of the 9th Force Support Squadron at Beale AFB, California. Following his two-year command tour, Slavick was transferred to Headquarters United States European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, where he was responsible for the direct support of all Offices of Defense Cooperation located in the capital cities across Europe.

Slavick has completed a number of operational and training temporary duty assignments. He is also a veteran of Operation DESERT STORM/DESERT CALM, Operation IRAQI FREEDOM and additional deployments in direct support of US national interests.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Studies from the University of Maryland and a Master of Science degree in Military Operational Science. He is a master SCUBA diver and a SCUBA divemaster. Slavick also is the author of several articles published in SCUBA diving and outdoor magazines. He also wrote the nonfiction history book .The Cruise of the German Raider Atlantis. published by the US Naval Institute Press in 2003.

Slavick is married to Karen De Fillippi of Novato, California. They have three adult children--Meghan who lives in Böblingen, Germany; Spencer, living in Roseburg, Oregon; and Kaitlin who recently enlisted into the USAF. His parents are Joseph M. Slavick and Mildred L. Ekaitis McCombs, both members of the EF Class of 1958.