U.S. Marine Corps Birthday and Veterans Day Speaker

Garden City Community College will be hosting
Lieutenant Colonel Brian E. Mead, United States Marine Corps Reserve and Garden City area
native, on Friday, November 12, 2021, at 9 a.m. in the *Dennis Perryman Athletic Complex.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in part to celebrate the annual U.S.
Marine Corps Birthday, Nov. 10, and Veterans Day, Nov. 11. The Marine Corps was established
on Nov. 10, 1775, to augment naval forces in the Revolutionary War, making the centuries-old
military force 246 years old this year.
For more information, please contact Leonard Hitz at [email protected].
Hitz, a member of the Marine Corps Veterans of Western Kansas, currently serves as a member
of the GCCC Board of Trustees.

Biography
Lieutenant Colonel Brian E. Mead
United States Marine Corps Reserve
Born and raised on a farm in the Garden City area, LtCol Brian E. Mead enlisted in the
United States Navy in June of 1996 after graduating from Garden City High School.
Distinguishing himself as a Machinist Mate 3rd Class, he was selected for the Naval Reserve
Officer Training Corps at the University of Kansas. After commissioning as a 2nd Lieutenant and
3 years of flight school, LtCol Mead would complete four combat tours in Iraq (2006, 2007,
2008) and Afghanistan (2010). The first two tours were with VMAQ-2 where he served as an
Electronic Countermeasures Officer in the EA-6B Prowler. The next two tours were with 5t
ANGLICO where he served as a Forward Air Controller embedded with foreign forces in Iraq and
Afghanistan. He was awarded for valor under fire in Afghanistan and was one of four Marines
recognized by the Navy League that year.
LtCol Mead departed active duty with a total of 11 years in 2011 and entered the USMC
Reserve Forces. He was activated on three occasions. With the Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace
Command he participated in the development of the emerging cyber force. With Joint Enabling
Capabilities Command he served as a crisis action planner and deployed on four separate
occasions to combatant commands including Korea during the height of the North Korean
“Rocketman” crisis.
As a civilian, LtCol Mead currently works for MAGAerospace, deploying to combat zones
and areas of crisis to provide customers with specialty aviation services. He is finishing his MBA
at New England College and maintains professional certifications across three fields: business,
aviation, and information technology. He currently lives in Norfolk, VA with his wife and four
children where he serves as a Foreign Security Force Advisor with Marine Corps Security
Cooperation Group.