Gitmo high commander hails from York County
Brad LeVault, a ranking officer at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, is a Spring Grove native. Background posts: York has produced its share of high-ranking naval officers and Book gives positive view about forgotten general Jake Devers.<p.
Those who believe all roads lead to York got further evidence if they read the weekend York Sunday News story about one of the top guys at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
Brad LeVault is from York County, specifically Spring Grove.
In an interview, the nine-month vet of Gitmo declined to speculate about reports that the White House plans to close the military base.
“I always say, I get paid to take orders,” LeVault said.
Our story described Gitmo and made an interesting comparison between that site and Spring Grove of yore:
It’s on the southern end of Cuba, surrounded mainly by cacti and sealed off from the rest of the country by a fence. Aside from the perpetually high temperature and the exotic fauna – including banana rats, iguanas and an 11-foot-long boa constrictor LeVault recently spotted – the atmosphere is very small-town America. There’s a movie theater, a bowling alley and even a McDonald’s. They hold parades for the Fourth of July and Christmas.
“Picture Spring Grove in the 1950s, with a gate around it and communists on the other side,” LeVault told the York Sunday News.
The newspaper story gave this bio information on the naval officer:
About Brad LeVault
Age: 43
Title: Command Master Chief, U.S. Navy
Hometown: Spring Grove
Family: Wife, Amy; two daughters, ages 21 and 18; two sons, ages 16 and 13
Previous assignments: Aircrewman in Patrol Squadron 23 in Brunswick, Maine; career counselor at Naval Air Development Center in Warminster; OPCON supervisor at Commander Fleet Air in Keflavik, Iceland; company commander at Recruit Training Command, Orlando, Fla.; leading chief petty officer, Drill Hall 1200, Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill.; leading chief petty officer on board USS Dwight D. Eisenhower CVN-69 in Norfolk, Va.; new construction CVN and L class ships outfitter at NAS Patuxent River, Md.; instructor at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy, El Paso, Texas; command master chief on board USS Cushing DD-985 in Yokosuka, Japan
Awards and decorations: Meritorious Service Medal, two Navy Commendation Medals, four Navy Achievement Medals, three Naval Meritorious Unit Commendation, Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation, Air Force Meritorious Unit Commendation, two Battle Efficiency ribbons
