Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

William VanMeter Alford Jr. was the chief of staff for the

United States Pacific Command United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific region. Formerly known as United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) since its inception in 1947, t ...

between August 2004 and September 2007.

Biography

He is a native of

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

, but was raised in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

. Alford was commissioned through the Reserve Officer Candidate (ROC) program. Following graduation and receipt of his commission from Officer Candidate School,

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

, and attendance at several Navy schools 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 ...

, he reported to the homeported in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. He served as Operations, Communications and Mine Countermeasures Officer. Alford next served on board the USS ''Gridley'' as First Lieutenant and Antisubmarine Warfare Officer. While on board ''Reaper'' and ''Gridley'', he deployed twice to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and participated in three Vietnam campaigns,

Operation Market Time Operation Market Time was the United States Navy, Republic of Vietnam Navy and Royal Australian Navy operation begun in 1965 to stop the flow of troops, war material, and supplies by sea, coast, and rivers, from North Vietnam into parts of Sout ...

and

Gulf of Tonkin The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern ...

Northern Search and Rescue operations. In 1971 Alford was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet. He served as navigator and legal officer on board the USS ''Hermitage'' until June 1972. During that tour ''Hermitage'' served as command and control ship for the Exercise Snowy Beach LARC recovery effort. Since his release from active duty in 1972, Alford has served as commanding officer of NR USS ''Kalamazoo''; executive officer of NR USS ''Moinester''; commanding officer of NR USS ''Biddle''; executive officer of NR Commander Cruiser Destroyer Group Twelve; executive officer and commanding officer of NR Commander Sixth Fleet, Detachment 109; commanding officer of NR Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, Detachment 109; as the first commanding officer of NR Commander Sixth Fleet, Detachment 802; EA and XO to the deputy commander,

United States European Command The United States European Command (EUCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its area of focus covers and 51 countries and territories, including Europe, Russi ...

; deputy commander, United States Sixth Fleet; and J3R,

(EUCOM). During his tenure with Commander Cruiser Destroyer Group Twelve, Alford was chosen to serve as the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

representative to the German Navy for Exocet missile testing and analysis, including live firing. During

Desert Storm The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

, Alford served as an assistant naval attaché,

Tel Aviv, Israel Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. As the Sixth Fleet Detachment 802 commanding officer, Alford served as acting Sixth Fleet chief of staff for numerous theater-wide national, multi-national and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

exercises, including

Partnership for Peace The Partnership for Peace (PfP; french: Partenariat pour la paix) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust between the member states of NATO and other states mostly in Europe, including post-Soviet states; ...

exercises. Also during this command he served on active duty as the Sixth Fleet chief of staff, on board ,

Gaeta, Italy Gaeta (; lat, Cāiēta; Neapolitan language#Distribution, Southern Laziale: ''Gaieta'') is a city in the province of Latina, in Lazio, Southern Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is from Rome and from Napl ...

, for a period of in excess of six months. During his tenure as the chief of staff, the Sixth Fleet conducted five non-combatant evacuations, served as the commander of three Joint Task Forces (two of them simultaneously), completed an historic

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

cruise and prepared the first battle plans for

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

operations. In his capacity as deputy executive assistant/executive officer for the deputy commander, United States European Command, Stuttgart, Germany, Alford participated at length during Kosovo/Serbian Operations

Allied Force An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

Allied Harbor Operation Allied Harbor was NATO's first humanitarian operation. In the case of the Kosovo crisis, by the end of March 1999 these agencies were unable to cope with the massive influx of refugees into Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ) ...

and Joint Guardian, and as acting EA/XO for a prolonged period. As deputy commander, United States Sixth Fleet,

, he participated in the planning for

Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 at ...

as it pertains to the Sixth Fleet Area of Operations that includes the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

, the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...

and

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

, in addition to his day-to-day operational duties. He was integral in the formation of JFMCC EUR for MIO and LIO operations in the theater and the theater wide classification of CCOI/COI. He has also served as Deputy Sixth Fleet/JFMCC for several EUCOM/NATO/Allied joint exercises. As the J3R for the United States European Command, Alford was recalled to active duty for OEF and OIF. He facilitated the reorganization of the EUCOM staff into the European Planning and Operations Center for the execution of the EUCOM WOT and served as the deputy commander of the EPOC. In August 2004, Alford was again recalled to active duty to serve as the United States Pacific Command chief of staff. Alford served as a member of the Commander Naval Surface Reserve Force's Vision Division project and as a member of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy's (Reserve Affairs) white paper working group on the future of the Naval Reserve. He has received the

Navy Distinguished Service Medal The Navy Distinguished Service Medal is a military decoration of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps which was first created in 1919 and is presented to sailors and Marines to recognize distinguished and exceptionally meritoriou ...

, the

Defense Superior Service Medal The Defense Superior Service Medal (DSSM) is a military decoration of the United States Department of Defense, which is presented to United States Armed Forces service members who perform superior meritorious service in a position of significant ...

, the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

(two awards), the Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal (two awards) and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, among other awards. He is the 2008 recipient of the Naval Reserve Association National Distinguished Service Award. RADM Alford completed the US Navy Executive Business Course, Haas School of Business, University of California - Berkeley. * Navy Distinguished Service ribbon

US Defense Superior Service Medal ribbon

with Gold Star * Meritorious Service Medal ribbon

Meritorious Service Medal * Joint Service Commendation ribbon

Joint Service Commendation Medal with Gold Star *

Navy and Marine Corps Commendation ribbon

Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal

References

* * *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alford, William Vanmeter Jr. Living people People from Charlottesville, Virginia Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Navy rear admirals University of Kentucky alumni Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal 1945 births