I have dedicated my entire adult life to fighting for our democracy in some way. From attending West Point to serving in the Army for over 22-years including four combat tours. Then on to my post military career as a veterans advocate in Washington D.C. to joining the Lincoln Project to battle against Donald Trump and his authoritarian MAGA cult. Now I am helping Democratic candidates run for office, supporting political action groups, and much more. I launched the ‘On Democracy’ Substack to tie together those many experiences, discuss the moment we face as a nation, and highlight issues and lessons I have learned in my life and work. You will hear from me in a variety of ways as a subscriber from my latest podcast episodes, regular essays on today’s issues, stories from my life in the military and after, and regular special events for paid subscribers like Ask Me Anything sessions to special discussions with guests just for our Substack community.
On Democracy subscribers will hopefully be challenged in your thinking, informed about events of today and the past, and get a chance to be part of a community of diverse people from the U.S. and around the world during a challenging time in our shared history.
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About Fred Wellman
I have had a unique journey.
I grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri before attending the United States Military Academy at West Point graduating in 1987 as an Army Aviator. I spent much of my 22-year military career as a helicopter pilot, operations officer, and later public affairs officer and spokesman. Over four combat tours I served in multiple capacities, first as a Scout pilot and platoon leader in Operation Desert Storm and later as a Blackhawk helicopter equipped combat battalion Operations and Executive Officer in the famed 101st Airborne in Iraq in 2003. In those roles I also led and conducted civil affairs missions supporting the local civilian population in a wide swath of Ninewa province surrounding Q-West Airbase.
I left the Regular Army after 13-years and joined the Army Reserve in Atlanta. I stumbled into local politics and ran for mayor of Peachtree City, Georgia before the events of 9/11 would recall me to the Army and end my campaign. The campaign and the publicity that went with my leaving politics and going back in the Army would help fuel our success in that early phase of the war. My unit’s efforts to help local civilians generated tremendous media interest and led me to be a regular host of international media sent from higher headquarters. My old West Point professor, then Major General David Petraeus, selected me to be the 101st Airbornes’s public affairs officer at the end of that first tour of duty.
Later I served as the Chief of Public Affairs and official spokesman for Petraeus, and later former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Martin Dempsey at Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq in 2005. I returned to the unit again in 2008 for my fourth, and final, combat tour.
After retiring from the Army I began a civilian career in public relations founding a public relations firm focused on veteran and military family issues, ScoutComms. The agency would become the leading agency for nonprofits and corporations looking to assist those communities and work with companies like The Home Depot, GE, Blackberry, Oshkosh Defense and many more. Top veterans nonprofits including Student Veterans of America, Wounded Warrior Project, Team Rubicon, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans and dozens of others called on ScoutComms to grow their support and donations. The firm was a certified B-corporation and won honors for four years as one of the top public benefit companies in the world. I closed the agency after nearly ten years amid the global pandemic in July 2020.
In the early weeks of the COVID pandemic, I volunteered to travel to New York City and served as Administrative Chief-of-Staff of the New York Presbyterian Ryan F. Larkin Field Hospital at Columbia University’s Baker Athletic Center. I managed the build-out, operations, and closure of a 250-bed hospital ward and a staff of special operations veterans and other healthcare providers during the devastating first wave of the crisis in April and May of 2020.
I came to larger national attention as a Senior Advisor and then Executive Director of the popular, and controversial, pro-democracy Super PAC the Lincoln Project. I joined LP in August of 2020 as the Senior Advisor for Veterans Affairs and coordinated veteran and national security efforts during the general election campaign and the Georgia runoff elections. This included producing multi-award-winning ads and coordinating a coalition of veterans and grassroots groups in the organization’s mission to remove Donald Trump from office.
I co-wrote and produced ads with actor Mark Hamill, airline hero Sully Sullenberger, and former Army officer Alex Vindman and his wife Rachel during the 2020 general election campaign. My colleagues and I boldly placed anti-Trump ads in military publications and led a grassroots movement of organizations countering his malign leadership of the U.S. military. Our work was instrumental in reducing the percentage of military and veteran voters for Trump by over 4%.
I took the helm of the Lincoln Project as Executive Director the day a New York Times article broke detailing alleged improprieties of a former founder of LP, followed by a series of further accusations against the organization’s founders. I successfully led the investigations of those accusations and created resolutions for organizational change to address the failures. I managed the organization’s mission and staff through a transition to a permanent organization and professional political action committee before departing to work with candidates for Congress.
Currently, I am a political consultant and senior advisor to campaigns as well as founding, launching, and leading political action committees focused on democracy and assisting Democrats running for office.
I hold a Bachelor of Science in International Relations from the United States Military Academy at West Point where I graduated in 1987. Later I attended the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in the class of 2007 as a Presidential Scholar/Public Service Fellow and Center for Public Leadership Fellow and graduated with a Master of Public Administration with Honors as a Lucius N. Littauer Fellow for outstanding academic achievement, public service, and future leadership potential.
I won numerous professional awards including two coveted Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil awards. Our ad with Captain Sully Sullenberger was recognized with two Campaigns & Elections Reed Awards and two more POLLIE Awards. The Lincoln Project was named the number 4 Marketer of the Year by Ad Age Magazine for 2020.
I had the privilege to be named one of the 2020 Veterans of the Year for the National Able Network and recognized as the Virginia Veterans Business Champion of the Year for 2014 by the U.S. Small Business Administration-Richmond and, Small Business Veteran of the Year for Virginia in 2015.
My military decorations, badges, and awards include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star medals, multiple Air Medals, the Valorous Unit Award, Senior Aviator wings, the Ranger tab, and many more.
Where you can find me
Twitter is still the best place to find @FPWellman as well as on Facebook, Post, and Spoutible. I am @FPWellmanOfficial on Instagram too.
The On Democracy with FPWellman podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Buzzsprout and at least half a dozen other platforms as well.
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