LTC Seamas Whitesel graduated from Heidelberg American High School in Germany, and Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. He commissioned into the Aviation branch and completed UH-60 Blackhawk training and the Aviation Officer Basic Course at Fort Rucker. As an Aviation Officer, he served at company, battalion, and brigade levels, including command of the flight company at the Joint Readiness Training Center. He also deployed in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
LTC Whitesel then joined the Foreign Area Officer branch as a South Asia specialist. He studied Hindi and Urdu at the Defense Language Institute in California, then attended the Bangladesh Defence Services Command and Staff College. LTC Whitesel also traveled throughout the region to deepen his understanding of U.S. involvement in Asia. He then completed a Master of International Policy and Practice degree at George Washington University focused on South Asian foreign politics.
LTC Whitesel was then assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency, where he served as a South Asia Analyst and as Chief of the South Asia Political and Military Analysis Branch. He also served as the Executive Officer and Military Assistant to DIA’s Deputy Director of Commonwealth Integration. Following that appointment, LTC Whitesel deployed in support of U.S. Special Operations Command on a counter-VEO mission. He was then assigned as the Senior Defense Official and Defense Attaché to the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. He also served as the Director for South Asia Regional Affairs on the National Security Council. LTC Whitesel is now the Chief of Support Operations at the United States Military Observers Group.
LTC Whitesel and his wife Lindsay are the proud parents of five children. His father was an Army Chaplain and now serves as a pastor; his mother is a nurse. He is the oldest of three brothers and one sister. LTC Whitesel is an avid reader and enjoys spending his free time at his family’s farm in Pennsylvania, where he keeps livestock and manages his unruly garden with Lindsay