The Navy has nominated Rear Adm. Kevin “Kid” Donegan to the rank of vice admiral and an assignment as commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and commander of U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
Donegan has served as acting deputy chief of naval operations for operations, plans and strategy (OPNAV N3/N5) since July 2014.
The 1980 graduate of University of Virginia was part of the first East Coast deployment of the F/A-18, which included air strikes in Libya in April 1986, according to his Navy biography.
At sea, he commanded Strike Fighter Squadron 131, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) on a combat deployment that earned the Battle E, and the Battle Force 7th Fleet and Carrier Strike Group 5 aboard USS George Washington (CVN-73) homeported in Japan.
Ashore, he served as director of the Navy Quadrennial Defense Review, director of the strategy and policy division on the Navy staff, director of warfare integration and director of operations for United States Central Command.
Donegan was due for his third star and an assignment to a numbered fleet, but several personnel moves were put on hold as the Navy worked through its investigation of the Glenn Defense Marine Asia “Fat Leonard” scandal.
Earlier this year Donegan was cleared of any wrongdoing, Defense News reported.
