Capt. Kendall G. Bridgewater

MSC Pacific Commander

09 October 2020 Capt. Kendall G. Bridgewater is the Commander, Military Sealift Command Pacific and Commander Task Force 33. He assumed command in October 2020.

A native of Carrollton, Ill., Bridgewater’s military career began with the Army where he served in the enlisted ranks, on active duty from 1985 to 1989 as a Cannon Crewman in the 1st Armored and 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Divisions. He was commissioned into the Navy through Officer Candidate School after graduating from Lindenwood College in 1996, with a Bachelor of Arts in Human Resource Management. He also holds a master’s degree in National Security Policy and Strategic Studies, from the Navy War College.

Throughout his career, Bridgwater has served at a number of at-sea commands, and in a variety of positions including; Naval Surface Squadron FIVE in Bahrain, where he lead his team through the reorganization from Patrol Coastal Squadron ONE, and LCS Crew 104; USS Fort Worth (LCS 3); USS Milwaukee (LCS 5), as the commanding officer during their commissioning USS Decatur (DDG 73); USS Pearl Harbor (LSD-52); USS McFaul (DDG-74); and officer in charge of LCS Anti-Submarine Warfare Detachment Two, and Destroyer Squadron Two One Combat Systems Officer.

Bridgewater’s shore duty assignments include, lead instructor for DDG Engineering at Surface Warfare Officer’s School; as a volunteer for a Global War on Terror Support Assignment completing an 11 month tour in Baghdad with Multi-National Forces-Iraq, Combined-Joint Operations Division, as a Liaison Officer to the Iraqi Prime Minister’s National Operations Center; OPNAV staff as the lead action officer for Navy to Navy Strategy Talks and the Afghanistan/Pakistan Strategy Cell in the Strategy and Policy Division (N51); and as a Federal Executive Fellow with the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a Washington, D.C. think tank.