Hunt takes new assignment stateside

Capt. Ryan Hunt took up a new assignment Aug. 1, with the Marine Corps in 29 Palms, Calif., as an instruction officer.

The 1999 graduate of Lake Roosevelt High School and Washington State University is the son of Grand Coulee Police Chief Mel Hunt and wife Joyce.

Ryan, who has served two assignments in both Iraq and Afghanistan, is the recipient of two Bronze Stars for meritorious action. One was for action in Iraq and the second for action taken in Afghanistan, where he was the commanding officer of an 18-member team that lived with Afghan military personnel near the Pakistan border.

The second Bronze Star was awarded June 27, for action taken in June, 2012.

He also was deployed to Lebanon and assisted in a training unit in the Philippines.

As Hunt began his three-year stint as a training officer at 29 Palms, he said by phone, “I will be in my tip time, halfway towards retirement.” He has just over 10 years in the Marine Corps.

Hunt will be training the same type of team he was on, whose members go into host countries to assist with training of native forces.