Larry W. Bailey is a native of Marshall, Texas. He graduated from Marshall, TX, High School in 1957 and, in 1962, he obtained a BS degree from Stephen F. Austin State College in Nacogdoches, TX.

Bailey was sworn into the U.S. Navy in June 1962 upon entering Naval Officer’s Candidate School at Newport, RI. Upon graduation, Ensign Larry Bailey was assigned to the USS Leary (DDR-879) as Assistant Engineering Officer. Not finding destroyers to his liking, he volunteered for Underwater Demolition Team Replacement Training, the precursor of today’s BUD/S, or Basic UDT/SEAL, Training. After completing a year at UDT-22 and leading his platoon on a Caribbean amphibious deployment, he was transferred to SEAL Team TWO, where he was second-in-command of a SEAL platoon that participated in the 1965 invasion of the Dominican Republic and where he first came under enemy fire. In 1967, he commanded one of the first SEAL Team TWO platoons to deploy to Vietnam, where he conducted numerous combat and intelligence-gathering operations. Upon returning from Vietnam, he led a Mobile Training Team to Cartagena, Colombia, where the team trained Colombia's first SEAL-equivalent unit.

Leaving the Navy in early 1968, he worked for a year as Executive Director of the Tarrant County, TX, Republican Party. Returning to active duty in late 1969, LT Bailey rejoined SEAL Team TWO prior to being ordered to UDT-12 in Coronado, CA, as Executive Officer. While in that billet he deployed to Subic Bay, Philippines, as Officer-in-Charge of the Naval Special Warfare Western Pacific Detachment. Upon completion of his tour with UDT-12 in mid-1971, he reported to the Amphibious Base at Little Creek, VA, as Assistant Operations Officer at the new Naval Inshore Warfare Command.

In 1973, LCDR Bailey was assigned as Plans Officer at the US Southern Command in the Panama Canal Zone. In 1975 he was assigned as Navy Section Chief at the US Military Group in La Paz, Bolivia. In 1977, CDR Bailey reported to the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, VA, and graduated in early 1978. In 1978, CDR Bailey began a five-year tenure at Ft Bragg, NC, at what is now Special Operations Command, Atlantic. Subsequent tours were as SEAL Liaison Officer to Army Special Forces and the Navy Operations Officer at Joint Special Operations Command. In 1982, CDR Bailey assumed command of Naval Special Warfare Unit TWO at the Royal Air Force Base in Machrihanish, Scotland, where he spent three years overseeing the activities of all SEAL operations in the European Theatre. Upon completing that tour of duty, CAPT Bailey received orders to report as Commanding Officer of the Naval Special Warfare Center, US Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, CA, where he oversaw the basic training of entry-level SEALs. CAPT Bailey spent his final two years in the Navy as a Division Chief at the US Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL, where he retired from active duty in 1990.

Medals, Awards and Badges

CAPT Bailey’s awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with Gold Star, Bronze Star Medal with Combat Valor Device, Special Warfare Insignia (SEAL Badge), and numerous other personal and campaign medals.

In Retirement

CAPT Bailey is a much-published author on military subjects and has worked at a number of non-profit/patriotic organizations since his retirement. In 2004 he organized and led Vietnam Vets for the Truth, which opposed the candidacy of John Kerry, and in 2007 he Co-founded Gathering of Eagles (GOE), a military support organization. GOE has donated over 150 laptop computers to Combat Veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan and has donated and shipped over 5,000 pounds of Kona coffee to active-duty soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. CAPT Bailey Co-founder with Col. Dick Brauer, USAF (Ret.), is the current Operations Director of Special Operations Speaks, a "Super-PAC" formed to support Gov Mitt Romney in 2012. CAPT Bailey is a life time member of the American Legion, the VFW, the UDT-SEAL Association, the UDT-SEAL Museum Association, and the National Rifle Association.

Personal Life

Larry Bailey is married to the former Judy Alligood of Elizabeth City, NC, and they reside in Chocowinity, NC. They have a son, CDR Tucker Bailey, a Naval Reserve Intelligence Officer, who is Executive Officer of a Miami-based unit and is a full-time business consultant. They have a daughter, Hallie, who received an MBA from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and is an investment analyst with a major financial firm.