Warrior Defense Fund  Advisory Board

The Warrior Defense Fund is tax-exempt and your contributions are tax-deductible.  A six to tem person oversight board will be named.  The initial steering committee consist of of two SEALs and a troop activist organization official. Additional members will consist of a mixture of Army and USMC overseers.

Captain Larry Bailey, USN (SEAL) (Ret.) served on active duty for 27 years.  As a junior officer, he served as a UDT and SEAL platoon commander and led deployments to the Caribbean and Vietnam.  A graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas, he holds a Master's Degree from East Carolina University.  As a senior officer, he commanded Naval Special Warfare Unit TWO in Scotland and Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado, CA.

SInce his retirement in 1990, he has worked as a consultant in DOD-related programs and has founded and chaired three non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting the American military.

Captain Bailey lives in Chocowinity, NC, with his wife Judy and continues to promote military causes.

Pete Poillon (HTCM SEAL/CC ret.) served over twenty-one years on active duty in Underwater Demolition & SEAL Teams of the United States Navy.  His service included Mediterranean and Caribbean deployments as a Navy Frogman, twelve years in a Special Missions Unit, aviation water survival instructor duty, and Command Master Chief of a SEAL Team.

Currently he is a group manager of senior operations planners supporting the FBI under the National Security & Emergency Management Program of Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. He earned his Bachelor of Science Degree from Troy State University summa cum laude, and maintains a U.S.C.G. Merchant Marine Officer license as Master of Near Coastal Vessels.

Throughout his career he has planned and participated in numerous highly successful sensitive special operations and aggressively deployed worldwide supporting national security objectives in peacetime, periods of high risk, and combat.

Elyse Buongiorno is the President of a military support organization called Eagles UP.  Their projects include sending care packages for active duty soldiers, sailors and Marines, Cell Phones for Soldiers, supporting the families of deployed military personnel and being a resource for our veterans of all wars.  Recently they finished a project in partnership with a nationally known organization to build a specially adapted home for one of our wounded warriors.