Council News

Coronado Council hosts Radm. Garry J. Bonelli at October dinner/meeting

Adapted from The Bosun's Pipe, the newsletter of the Coronado Council of the Navy League

Rear Admiral (Select) Garry J. Bonelli will be the guest speaker at the Coronado Council's dinner/meeting on October 23, 2007.

Social Hour: 6:00 PM; Dinner: 6:45 PM
Cost: $30/each

Mail check, made payable to Coronado Navy League, to PO Box 182252, Coronado, CA 92178-2252. Reservations must be made by October 19, 2007.

For information, call Harlan Dinger (619)463-7904 (cell)(619)244-0021.

About Rear Admiral Bonelli

Enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1968, Rear Admiral (Select) Garry Bonelli graduated from the Great Lakes Recruit Training Center, where he was a member of the first-ever Underwater Demolition Team (UDT)/SEAL boot camp company. Following graduation, Rear Adm. (Sel) Bonelli made two ground combat deployments in Vietnam as a Navy Frogman with UDT-12. Then, in 1974, he became a member of the first Reserve Component unit of Naval Special Warfare.

In 1976, as a drilling Reservist, he completed his master of science degree in Mass Communications and received a direct commission in the Navy Reserve. He has served as the commanding officer of eight Navy Reserve units.

Rear Adm. (Sel) Bonelli was mobilized in 1990 in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and served as the commanding officer of SEAL Team 5. He has the distinction of being the first and only Reservist to command an active duty SEAL Team.

In 2001, Radm. Bonelli was selected to serve as the Deputy Commander at Navy Reserve Readiness Command Southwest. In 2005, he completed a three-year collateral assignment as a member of the Secretary of the Navy’s National Navy Reserve Policy Board. Recalled to active duty again in 2006, Bonelli served as the Chief of Staff for Naval Special Warfare Command. This headquarters command has cognizance for seven major subordinate commands comprising a total Force of 6,500 personnel. The command develops strategy, doctrine, and tactics for Naval Special Warfare forces supporting Fleet and Joint Special Operations worldwide. Recalled again in 2007, he now serves as the Deputy Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command.

In his civilian profession, Radm. Bonelli is a staff director with the San Diego Association of Governments, a strategic research, planning, and transportation agency working for the 18 cities and county government in the region. He helps manage a $14 billion public infrastructure program, and develops public policy initiatives for locally elected officials on numerous issues encompassing population growth, transportation, environmental management, economic development, public safety, and bi-national coordination.