The Combat Veterans For Congress PAC is pleased to announce the appointment of a Combat Veteran to the Board of Directors.  He is fiscally conservative, supports our efforts to reduce the national debt, rein in the out of control and irresponsible spending by the Obama Administration, and has continued his pledge to protect and defend the US Constitution. Captain Larry W. Bailey, USN (SEAL) (Ret), a native of Marshall, Texas, is a 28 year Veteran of the US Navy.  Larry Bailey graduated from Marshall, TX, High School in 1957.  In 1962, he obtained a BS degree from Stephen F. Austin State College in Nacogdoches, TX.  His civilian education culminated in a Master's Degree in Education Administration from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, in 1980.  He is a graduate of Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, VA; the US Army Foreign Area Officer School in Ft. Bragg, NC, and a multitude of combat skills schools ranging from UDT Replacement Training in Little Creek, VA, to Airborne School in Ft. Benning, GA, to Military Freefall School in Ft. Bragg, NC.

Larry Bailey was sworn into the US Naval Service in June 1962 upon entering Naval Officer’s Candidate School, Newport, RI; upon graduation Ensign Larry Bailey was assigned to the USS Leary (DDR-879) as Assistant Engineering Officer.  Not finding destroyers to his liking, he volunteered for Underwater Demolition Team Replacement Training, the precursor of today’s BUD/S, or Basic UDT/SEAL, Training.  After completing a year at UDT-22 and leading his platoon on a Caribbean amphibious deployment, he was transferred to SEAL Team TWO, where he was second-in-command of a SEAL platoon that participated in the 1965 invasion of the Dominican Republic and where he first came under enemy fire.  In 1967, he commanded one of the first SEAL Team TWO platoons to deploy to Vietnam, where he conducted numerous combat and intelligence-gathering operations.  Upon returning from Vietnam, he led a Mobile Training Team to Cartagena, Colombia, where the team trained Colombia's first SEAL-equivalent unit.  Leaving the Navy in early 1968, he worked for a year as Executive Director of the Tarrant County, Texas, Republican Party.  Returning to active duty in late 1969, LT Bailey rejoined SEAL Team TWO prior to being ordered to UDT-12 in Coronado, CA, as Executive Officer.  While in that billet he deployed to Subic Bay, Philippines, as Officer-in-Charge of the Naval Special Warfare Western Pacific Detachment.  Upon completion of his tour with UDT-12 in mid-1971 he reported to the Amphibious Base at Little Creek, VA as Assistant Operations Officer at the new Naval Inshore Warfare Command.

In 1973, Lcdr Bailey was assigned as Plans Officer at the US Southern Command in the Panama Canal Zone.  In 1975, he was assigned as Navy Section Chief at the US Military Group in La Paz, Bolivia. In 1977, Cdr Bailey reported to the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, VA, and graduated in early 1978.  In 1978, Cdr Bailey began a five-year tenure at Ft Bragg, NC, at what is now Special Operations Command, Atlantic.  Subsequent tours were as SEAL Liaison Officer to Army Special Forces and the Navy Operations Officer at Joint Special Operations Command.  In 1982, Cdr Bailey assumed command of Naval Special Warfare Unit TWO at the Royal Air Force Base in Machrihanish, Scotland where he spent three years overseeing the activities of all SEAL operations in the European theater.  Upon completing that tour of duty, Capt Bailey received orders to report as Commanding Officer of the Naval Special Warfare Center, US Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, CA where he oversaw the basic training of entry-level SEALs.  Capt Bailey spent his final two years in the Navy as a Division Chief at the US Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL, where he retired in 1990 and received an Honorable Discharge. Capt Bailey’s awards include the Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V”, the Legion of Merit Medal (with Gold Star for second award), the Defense Superior Service Medal, and numerous other personal and campaign medals.

Capt Bailey is a much-published author on military subjects and has worked at a number of non-profit/patriotic organizations since his retirement.  In 2004 he organized and led Vietnam Vets for the Truth, which opposed the candidacy of John Kerry, and in 2007 he Co-founded Gathering of Eagles (GOE), a military support organization.  GOE has donated over 150 laptop computers to Combat Veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan and has donated and shipped over 5000 pounds of Kona coffee to active-duty soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Capt Bailey Co-founder with Col. Dick Brauer, USAF (Ret.), and is the current Operations Director of Special Operations Speaks, a "Super-PAC" formed to support Gov Mitt Romney in 2012.  That organization's Web site may be viewed at http://www.specialoperationsspeaks.com. Capt Bailey is a life time member of the American Legion, the VFW, the UDT-SEAL Association, the UDT-SEAL Museum Association, and the National Rifle Association.    

Capt Bailey is married to the former Judy Alligood of Elizabeth City, NC and they reside in Chocowinity, North Carolina. They have a son, Cdr Tucker Bailey, a Naval Reserve Intelligence Officer who is Executive Officer of a Miami-based unit and is a full-time business consultant.  They have a daughter, Hallie, who received an MBA from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and is an investment analyst with a major financial firm.  The Combat Veterans For Congress PAC is pleased to have Capt Larry W. Bailey, USN (SEAL) (Ret), join its Board of Directors, we look forward to working with him.  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.  Capt Bailey is a Veteran 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.”