The Combat Veterans For Congress PAC is endorsing the 49th Combat Veteran For Congress; he is a fiscal and constitutional conservative who will work to rein in the out-of-control spending of the Obama Administration.  Lcdr James Bridenstine, USNR http://jimbridenstine.com is running for Congress in Oklahoma’s First District.  Lcdr Bridenstine is challenging the 10-year incumbent, Rep John Sullivan (R-OK-1), who has voted to raise the debt ceiling 11 times, voted to create the unconstitutional “Super-Committee,” voted for TARP, has one of the worst voting attendance records in the U.S. Congress, and failed to attend his own swearing-in ceremony in 2011. James Bridenstine was born on June 15, 1975 in Ann Arbor, Michigan and was raised in Arlington, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Upon graduating from Jenks High School in Jenks, Oklahoma in May 1993, Jim matriculated at Rice University in Houston, Texas where in April 1998 he received a BA with a triple major in Economics, Business, and Psychology.  Jim attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and received an MBA in May 2009.

James Bridenstine was sworn-in to the U.S. Navy on February 14, 1998 at the Navy Officer Programs Office in Oklahoma City.  He subsequently went to Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida in the summer of 1998 and was commissioned as an Ensign on August 30, 1998.  He then went into the Navy’s pilot training pipeline where he flew various airplanes in Pensacola, Florida; Corpus Christi, Texas; and Meridian, Mississippi.  After qualifying to take-off and land on aircraft carriers, Ens. Bridenstine received his Wing of Gold in May 2000.  He was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade in August 2000.  In July 2002, LTJG Bridenstine deployed with an E-2C squadron, VAW-113 (the Black Eagles) aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72).  On September 1, 2002, LTJG Bridenstine was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant; soon thereafter, he flew his first combat missions into Afghanistan from the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Northern Arabian Sea.  The USS Abraham Lincoln subsequently mobilized to the Persian Gulf where LT Bridenstine flew missions in Operation Southern Watch (Iraq) and Operation Iraqi Freedom.  The USS Abraham Lincoln departed from the Persian Gulf when Saddam Hussein’s statue came down in Baghdad, Iraq.  Upon his return, LT Bridenstine had flown 52 combat missions and was awarded an Air Medal for missions flown, the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat “V” for a specific high-risk mission that destroyed numerous enemy targets, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and numerous campaign medals.  In 2004, LT Bridenstine left VAW-113 and transition to the F-18 Hornet.  He flew F-18s at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center in Fallon, Nevada.  LT Bridenstine flew “red air” for TOPGUN instructor pilots who were transitioning to the F-16 Viper.  In May 2007, LT Bridenstine was honorably discharged from the Navy to earn an MBA from Cornell University.  After receiving his MBA, LT Bridenstine was sworn into the U.S. Naval Reserve and assigned to VAW-77 (the Nightwolves); as a Naval Reservist, he regularly flies counter-drug missions in Central and South America.

In December 2008, Jim Bridenstine was selected to be the Executive Director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum.  While in that position, he created the largest air show in Tulsa history and launched Tulsa’s campaign to acquire a retiring space shuttle.  Bridenstine resigned from the Tulsa Air and Space Museum in August 2010 to spend time training for counter-drug missions with VAW-77.  He has subsequently flown counter-drug missions in various parts of the world and was selected to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in July 2011.  James Bridenstine is an on-call employee of a major consulting firm that provides services to the Department of Defense.  He is a member of the Association of the United States Navy, the Tailhook Association, and South Tulsa Baptist Church.  Lcdr Bridenstineand his wife, Michelle, will celebrate their 7th anniversary in November 2011.  They have three children:  Walker (5), Sarah (3), and a third due in February.  Michelle received her B.A. in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma.

Lcdr Bridenstine’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.  The Combat Veterans For Congress PAC are pleased to endorse Lcdr Bridenstine, look forward to working with him, and are pleased that a Combat Veteran of his stature is running for U.S. House of Representatives.  If you have friends, associates, or relatives who know voters in the state of Oklahoma, kindly pass this email onto them and ask them to support Lcdr Bridenstine 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.  We have endorsed another Combat Veteran For Congress that General George Washington would have approved of.  A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America” for an amount “up to and including his life.”