Meet Blake Holt, U.S. Navy — 2024 Veteran
Blake Holt grew up in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. He graduated from Dighton Rehoboth High School in 2001. After graduating high school, Blake enlisted into the United States Navy where he attended Basic Training at Great Lakes, Illinois in 2001.
After completing Basic Training, Blake attended Corpsman A school in Great Lakes, Illinois in 2001. While at Corpsman A School he took part in a pilot program called Accelerated Pace. He finished this training in half the normal time due to this program. Upon graduating Corpsman A School, Blake attended Field Medical Service School in Del Mar, California at Camp Pendleton.
In 2002 Holt received his first assignment which was to SOI 52 Area at Camp Pendleton as a Sports Medicine and Reconditioning Therapy (SMART) technician with the Marines.
At the end of 2002, he was MAPPed to 2nd Battalion 5th Marines to deploy to Iraq in February of 2003 as a Line Corpsman where his unit deployed to Iraq through the southern border up to Tikrit. They then fell back into security and stability operations in Samawah. After a battle with Malaria, Blake then volunteered for a capture or kill mission in Usafyah.
In October of 2003, Holt returned home from deployment where he returned to his work at SMART and then attended a C school for Orthopedic Technician training in San Antonio, Texas during 2004. After completing his training Holt received his next duty station at Balboa Naval Medical Center in San Diego, California. He ran the cast room there until He redeployed to Kuwait in 2006 as an Orthopedic Tech. During this deployment he was reassigned at his request to help pull US citizens out of Lebanon by way of Cypress.
After he returned from Kuwait, Holt started experiencing symptoms of Bipolar 1 and PTSD. He then took over the Pediatric Orthopedic department until my ETS date and was Honorably Discharged in October of 2008. Four years after returning home, he became a Police Officer in Braintree, Massachusetts.
Throughout this time the PTSD and Bipolar 1 was getting worse but again he was able to do his job and was decorated several times as a police officer. The bipolar and PTSD spiked, and he voluntarily hospitalized himself. Currently Holt is married to his wife Devon and has three children. During this time he completed a Bachelors Degree in Psychology at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts.
Blake's Awards and Decorations:
- National Defense Service Medal
- Global War on Terrorism Medal
- Navy Good Conduct Medal (2nd Award)
- Joint Service Achievement Medal
- Combat Action Ribbon
- Presidential Unit Citation
- Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation
- Iraq Campaign Medal with EGA
- Global War on Terrorism
- Expeditionary Medal
- Humanitarian Service Medal
- Sea Service Deployment Ribbon
- Navy Pistol Expert Navy & Marine Achievement Medal
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Jeff Anderson
CEO/Founder, Rebuilding Warriors