David Fillis, a native of Tuckahoe, was promoted to U.S. Navy captain in August after serving more than 20 years in the Navy Reserves.
Fillis was first notified that he was up for promotion six months prior, and attributes this advancement in part to the year he spent working for the Military Sealift Command, MSC, in Kuwait.
MSC personnel help transport and restock ships for all U.S. Military services and government agencies.
In 2003, Fillis’ MSC team was stationed at the port of Ash Shuaybah, Kuwait, where they worked on Operation Iraqi Freedom, a mission authorized by President George W. Bush to assassinate Saddam Hussein, the fifth president of Iraq.
Fillis, 43, and his team helped bring ships in and out that contained military equipment that was then transported to Iraq.
“The time I spent in Kuwait was a great experience overall,” Fillis said. “At the time, you were really part of a major operation.”
Donald Moore, a U.S. Navy commander, first met Fillis in 2003 where the two served together in MSC, and said that his promotion to captain came as no surprise.
Moore described Fillis as “a dependable and sharp officer, all of his shipmates knew that one day he would become a senior officer.”
Fillis and Moore also worked together in 2012 as part of the Reserves MSC expeditionary exercise called Cobra Gold. Their unit conducted port operations, which required them to unload cargo and ammunition in Chuk Samet, Thailand.
Along with his work overseas, Fillis also served as a Navy executive officer, where he served as second-in-command
He said that ultimately, advancing to a captain position took “a lot of hard work over a long period of time, so [it was] certainly very satisfying to achieve.”
After graduating from Tuckahoe High School, Fillis went on to receive a Bachelor of Science in Maritime Transportation from U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, after which he went on to join the Reserves.
Fillis currently serves part-time in the Reserves, which requires that he spend one weekend a month at the Naval Operational Support Center at Fort Dix in Trenton, New Jersey.
Fillis is also one of roughly 2,000 strategic sealift officers, which are members of the Reserve who are trained to be able to ship out during times of war. In this position, he is required to receive active duty training. This training helps reinforce skills that Navy personnel have been taught, and prepares them for potential mobilization in the future.
Training takes place for two weeks out of the year, and can sometimes require going overseas.
Due to the amount of traveling, he said that he can be gone upwards of 17 days in a row.
“With young children, this can be a challenge, typically for my spouse,” Fillis said.
When Fillis is not fulfilling his Reserve requirements, he works full time as an operations manager at Gener8 Maritime, an international oil transportation service.
Because of his busy work life, Fillis tries to spend as much time as possible with his wife and two kids, who he lives with in Riverdale, New Jersey.
Fillis said he hopes to be able to continue to work his way up the Navy Officer Ranks.
“Competition amongst senior officers in the U.S. Navy is keen, and [Fillis’] promotion to captain demonstrates the Navy’s confidence in his ability to lead at the highest levels,” Moore said.
