The Combat Veterans For Congress PAC is endorsing the 47thCombat Veteran For Congress; he is a fiscally conservative candidate who will work to rein in the out of control spending by the Obama Administration and is running in the Special Election on September 13, 2011 for the Congressional seat that was vacated by Congressman Dean Heller after Congressman Heller was appointed to fill Senator John Ensign’s seat following Senator Ensign’s resignation.  Cdr Kirk S. Lippold, USN (Ret) http://www.kirklippoldforcongress.com who was raised and lives in Carson City, Nevada served in the US Navy for 26 years.  Upon graduation from Carson High School in June 1977, Kirk Lippold matriculated at the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in May 1981.  He graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA in March 1989 where he received a Master of Science in Systems Engineering (Joint Command, Control and Communications).  In June 1994 he graduated from the United States Army Command and General Staff College, and in July 2001 he graduated from the Joint Forces Staff College.   

Midshipman First Class Lippold was commissioned as an Ensign in the US Navy upon graduation from the US Naval Academy in May 1981. In December 1981, for Ensign Lippold’s initial division officer tour, he reported to USS Fairfax County (LST-1193).  There, he completed a deployment to Beirut, Lebanon, in support of the US Marine Corps and the Multinational Peacekeeping Force when terrorists attacked the American Embassy and severely damaged it.  In July 1984 LT Lippold’s was assigned to his second division officer assignment in USS Yorktown (CG-48), an Aegis-class guided missile cruiser.  There, he completed a lengthy seven and a half month deployment to the Mediterranean, where he participated in the Achille Lauro aircraft seizure, Black Sea Freedom of Navigation Operations (to confirm the US’s right of navigation in opposition to the Soviet Union), and Attain III Combat Operations in the Gulf of Sidra off Libya that followed several Libyan sponsored terrorist attacks in Europe.  Lt Lippold’s next reported in December 1989 as the Operations Officer in USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), the Navy's first Aegis-class guided missile destroyer with a complement of over 300 crewmen.  He was responsible for the training and operation of the first in the next generation of $1 billion warships.  Lcdr Lippold’s next shipboard assignment was Executive Officer in USS Shiloh (CLG-67), an Aegis-class guided missile cruiser.  He served in this capacity from September 1994 to May 1996.  From September 1996 to February 1999 he was assigned as the Administrative Aide to the Secretary of the Navy. 
   
Commander Lippold was next selected as the Commanding Officer of USS Cole (DDG-67) and served in that command billet from June 1999 to March 2001.   While on deployment in the Middle East the Cole came under a suicide attack by Al-Q’ida terrorists in the port of Aden, Yemen.  Following the attack, he and his crew distinguished themselves by saving the USS Cole from sinking.  That suicide attack is widely recognized as one of the most brazen acts of terrorism by Al Q’ida prior to September 11, 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan, the US Pentagon in Virginia, and the failed attack on the US Capital that ended up crashing into a vacant field close to Shankesville, PA.  From July 2001 to November 2004 Cdr Lippold was assigned to Joint Chiefs of Staff (J-5).  In November 2004,  Cdr Lippold was assigned to OPNAV (N3/N5).   He retired from active duty in June 2007.  Cdr Kirk Lippold's personal awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (three awards), Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Commendation Medal (two awards), Joint Service Achievement Medal, Navy Achievement Medal (two awards), in addition to various campaign and service ribbons.

Cdr Lippold remains active as a member of the US Naval Academy Alumni Association of Las Vegas, a member of the St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Carson City, the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), the Carson City Rotary Club, the VFW, the Navy League, and the American Legion.   Cdr Lippold has been endorsed by Congresswoman Barbara Vucanovich (R-NV-2) (Ret), and the Combat Veterans For Congress PAC.   

If you review Cdr Lippold’s positions on various issues on his Web site, you would be pleased with his stands; they agree with the Combat Veterans For Congress Mission Statement.  We look forward to working with Congressman Lippold, and are pleased that a Combat Veteran of his stature is running for the US House of Representatives.  If you have friends, associates, or relatives who know voters in the state of Nevada, kindly pass this endorsement on to them, and ask them to support Cdr Lippold by working in his campaign, providing financial support for his campaign in any amount, and/or by networking with others who would be willing to support his campaign.  The military is one of the few remaining institutions producing the caliber of men and women needed to restore this nation to the greatness our Founding Fathers envisioned.  We have endorsed another Combat Veteran For Congress that General George Washington would have approved of.  A Veteran is someone who, at one point of his life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America” for an amount “up to and including his life.”