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Valley Stream Trustee returns from Afghanistan

Vincent Grasso on his service and the experience he brings home

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Village Trustee Vincent Grasso was welcomed home with a standing ovation at the board’s Aug. 18 meeting, his first public appearance in the role since his seven-month deployment to Afghanistan.

“It’s great to have him back,” said Mayor Ed Fare. “We’re very proud. I kind of look at him as representing all Valley Stream residents who’ve served.”

Sitting in a conference room at the Atlantic Beach Bridge’s administration building, where he works, Grasso leaned forward with eyes wide, fielding questions about his time in one of the most dangerous places in the world.

“I’ve been saying I traveled 12,000 miles to two war zones to learn how to administer village government,” joked Grasso, who also served in Iraq in 2006.

His experiences abroad gave him a great deal of perspective on the role of government in people’s lives, he said, and he considers what he saw in those war zones quite relevant to his current role. “I’ve always had an interest in sustainability,” he said. “Sustainable practices are so important. I got to see the flip side of it in all those places.”

Grasso enlisted in the Army Reserves in 1992, as a legal specialist. He received an honorable discharge in 2000, but signed up for a Navy Special Warfare Intelligence course in February 2001, seven months before the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Nine-11 changed things,” he said. He was enrolled in a master’s program in Washington, D.C., in 2006 that was interrupted when he deployed to Iraq with Seal Team 5 as a lead petty officer with the intelligence department. His tour took him to Fallujah and Rawah, among other places. Every operation was accompanied by the expectation of “something bad happening.” Following that deployment, Grasso applied for an officer’s commission, and received it. He deployed to Afghanistan last November.

“Iraq was an active war zone. It was very dangerous — we were getting mortared every day,” he said. “Our role in Afghanistan was to train, advise and assist.” Grasso’s job was to brief Maj. Gen. Scott Miller, commander of the Special Operations Joint Task Force, on the daily intelligence situation, and specifically how it related to Special Operations Forces. He also managed 800 linguists assigned to the command.

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