Bell City naval officer receives promotion

Kevin W. Hunt of Bell City, Mo., was promoted to lieutenant commander while deployed to Afghanistan.

A 1987 Bell City High School graduate, Hunt joined the Naval Reserves in 1991 and completed his basic training in California.

He qualified for the Navy bachelor's degree program and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Missouri St. Louis with a bachelor of science degree in Business Administration in 1998.

Hunt completed officer candidate school and was commissioned in Florida in 1998. He served five years active duty, stationed on the USS Ticonderoga at Mississippi and Naval Support Activity-Mid South with the Navy Personnel Command at Tennessee.

Hunt left active duty in 2004 and returned to the Naval Reserves.

In 2005 Hunt left to serve his country and while stationed at Qalat, Afghanistan, embedded among the Afghan National Army, he learned of his promotion to lieutenant commander.

Hunt is the son of Carl and Evelyn Hunt of Bell City. He is married to the former Stacey Ann Bryant of Lesterville and has a daughter, McKayla, 7, and son, Austin, 3. He is employed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture at the Farm Service Agency in Dexter, Mo.