For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, May 25, 2005

U.S. Representative Dan Boren Honors McCurtain County Native

 Vice Admiral Phillip M. Balisle to retire from the U.S. Navy

WASHINGTON D.C - U.S. Representative Dan Boren, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, recently honored Vice Admiral Phillip M. Balisle in remarks he gave to the Congressional Record.  A native of Idabel, Oklahoma, Balisle is set to retire from the U.S. Navy after 36 years of service.    

 

Vice Admiral Balisle began his career in 1969 as a Seaman Recruit in the Naval Reserve while attending Oklahoma State University.  After attending Officer Candidate School, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy in 1970.

 

During the years that followed, Balisle accrued an impressive operational career that was highlighted by his command of the USS KIDD, a destroyer class battleship.  Ashore he served as Director of Theater Air Warfare and Director of Surface Warfare on the Chief of Naval Operations’ staff.

 

“Throughout his career Vice Admiral Balisle has been a visionary,” Boren said.  

 

Balisle was a leader in the development of numerous combat programs and initiatives and “he led unprecedented organizational change amid a historic time of Navy transformation,” Boren said.  

 

In his speech, Boren said of Balisle, “He is an individual of uncommon character and his professionalism will be sincerely missed. I am proud to thank him for his honorable service in the United States Navy and I wish him ‘fair winds and following seas’ as he closes his distinguished military career.”

####