Michael Tate Westbrook is an officer in the United States Navy who served as commanding officer of the USS ''Spruance'' (DDG-111) from May 2010 to May 2012. Prior to this, he served in the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...

on the Naval Operations Staff's Programming Division from fall 2007 through June 2009.

Career

Westbrook's initial sea tours were in USS ''Hawes'' (FFG-53) as Communications Officer, Ordnance Officer and Weapons Control Officer, and included combat action in

Operation Desert Shield The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

and

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

. In 1993, he resigned from active duty to pursue a career as a small business entrepreneur in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, during which time he also achieved a

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

Merchant Master's license. He returned to active duty in 1997 and eventually served as Combat Systems Officer in USS ''O'Brien'' (DD-975), then later served as the commissioning Combat Systems Officer in USS ''McCampbell'' (DDG-85). He then served at the

Missile Defense Agency The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is the section of the United States government's Department of Defense responsible for developing a layered defense against ballistic missiles. It had its origins in the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) which ...

as the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Program Support Officer in 2003, and as the Missile Defense Agency's liaison to the

United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense The House Subcommittee on Defense is a standing subcommittee within the United States House Committee on Appropriations. The United States House Committee on Appropriations has joint jurisdiction with the United States Senate Committee on Appropria ...

from 2004 through 2005. He then served as Executive Officer in USS ''Laboon'' (DDG-58), one of the three ships of the first Atlantic Fleet Destroyer Sea Swap experiment. In 2007, he was one of the 30 selected as National Finalists in the

White House Fellows The White House Fellows program is a federal fellowship program established via Executive Order by President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson in October 1964, based upon a suggestion from John W. Gardner, then the president of Carnegie Cor ...

program. He represented the Navy as a 2008-2009 Fellow in the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

Seminar XXI program. Westbrook commanded the Navy task force that launched the

2017 Shayrat missile strike On the morning of 7 April 2017, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea into Syria, aimed at Shayrat Airbase controlled by the Syrian government. The strike was executed under responsibility of U.S. Pre ...

in response to the

Khan Shaykhun chemical attack The Khan Shaykhun chemical attack took place on 4 April 2017 on the town of Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib Governorate of Syria. The town was reported to have been struck by an airstrike by government forces followed by massive civilian chemical ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Military awards

Personal life

Westbrook is a native of

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

. He holds a bachelor's degree in rhetoric from

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

and a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

Southern New Hampshire University Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is a private university between Manchester and Hooksett, New Hampshire. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, along with national accreditation for some hospitali ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Westbrook, Tate Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) People from Murfreesboro, Tennessee Tulane University alumni United States Navy officers Southern New Hampshire University alumni