Ashleigh Bryant

Ashleigh Bryant, a combat veteran of the Afghanistan War, was appointed Deputy National Director of Communications of the 1.2 million-member DAV in August 2014, assigned to the DAV National Service and Legislative Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

A life member of DAV Chapter 10 in Fairfax, Va., Ms. Bryant enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in January 2004. Following duty as a broadcast journalist with American Forces Network Tokyo in 2009, Ms. Bryant deployed to Afghanistan where she established and led the American Forces Network Kandahar news bureau to expand internal broadcast coverage of combat operations in the southern area of the country.

Following her combat tour, Ms. Bryant served as a supervisor and reporter for the Pentagon News Bureau where she managed daily production for the news bureau and associated personnel covering Defense Department news, policies and operations. She served as the military announcer for the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Parade.

Ms. Bryant holds numerous decorations and awards for combat service and humanitarian assistance as well as national awards for military broadcast journalism. She was honorably discharged in October 2011, and joined DAV as an Associate and Assistant National Director of Communications at Washington headquarters prior to being appointed to her current position.

Ms. Bryant holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Master’s degree in Public Relations Management from the University of Maryland. She is also a graduate of the Basic Public Affairs Writers Course, Basic Public Affairs Broadcaster Course and Advanced Electronic Journalism Course from the Defense Information School at Fort Meade, Maryland.