166th Aviation Brigade Commander
COL Kevin A. Vizzarri

COL Kevin Vizzarri, originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was commissioned as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Aviation Branch in 1989 after graduating as a Distinguished Military Graduate from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  From 1990-1994, he was an OH-58 Scout Platoon Leader, Assistant S3, AH-64 Apache Platoon Leader and Company Commander in the 4^th Battalion 229^th Regiment "Flying Tigers;" in Illesheim, Germany. During this assignment, he deployed as part of Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm. From 1994-1997, he served as the 6^th US Cavalry Brigade Plans Officer and S1 in 1^st Battalion 4^th Regiment, 4^th Aviation Brigade at Ft Hood, Texas.

From 1997-2000, he completed his Western European Foreign Area Officer training at the Defense Language Institute at Monterey, Ca, In Country Training in Rome, Italy, 125^th Course of the Italian Army Staff School in Civitavecchia and received a Masters in Public Policy and Management at the University of Pittsburgh.

Upon completion of resident Command and General Staff College at Ft Leavenworth, Kansas in 2002, he served as the Brigade S3 for the 21^st Air Cavalry Brigade and Executive Officer for 2^nd Squadron 6^th US Cavalry conducting the Longbow fielding at Ft Hood, Texas. In 2004, he moved with 2-6 Cav to her home station in Illesheim, Germany before deploying to Bagram, Afghanistan as the XO of Task Force Sabre in 2005-2006 as part of OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM VI. Shortly after the unit’s successful rotation and return back to Illesheim, COL Vizzarri served as the Professor of Military Science (Army ROTC) at the University of Texas at Austin in July 2006.

 From June 2007 to July 2009, COL Vizzarri commanded of the 4^th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion 4^th Aviation Regiment “Gambler Guns”, Combat Aviation Brigade, 4^th Infantry Division, Ft Hood, Texas. While the battalion commander, the Gambler Guns based out of Taji, Iraq, served as the sole AH-64D Longbow battalion for Multinational Division-Baghdad for 4^th Infantry and 1^st Cavalry Division during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM 08-09.  From August 2009-June 2011, COL Vizzarri served as the military deputy director for the U.S. Forces Command Aviation Division at Ft McPherson, Georgia.

COL Vizzarri’s last assignment was as a Army War College Fellow in the 63^rd session of the Istituto Alti Studi per la Difesa (IASD) in Rome, Italy. IASD is the Italian Armed Forces version of the National War College.

COL Kevin A. Vizzarri is married to the former Dominika Figura of Weigerska Gorka, Poland and they have two sons, Luca Anthony, and Domenic Anthony.