Lt. Col. Bradley (Brad) C. Tibbetts was born in Buffalo, NY and was commissioned in the Army Nurse Corps out of The Pennsylvania State University ROTC program in 1998.
His first assignment was Walter Reed Army Medical Center, followed by the 86th Combat Support Hospital at Fort Campbell, KY, where he served as an Emergency Room Nurse, Civil-Military Officer for Task Force Medical Falcon in Kosovo, and Commander of Bravo Company. His company command included establishing the first operational Role 3 hospital in Iraq during the March 2003 invasion. He then moved over to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) as the Officer in Charge of the Rascon School of Combat Medicine before deploying again to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Upon returning from deployment, he attended the Interservice Physician Assistant (PA) Program and was assigned to Korea as the Battalion PA for 6th Battalion, 37th Field Artillery, 2nd Infantry Division and the Brigade Surgeon for the 210th Fires Brigade. His next assignments were as the Battalion PA for 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment and the Senior PA for the “Rakkasans" of the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), including a deployment to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He then served as the Division PA for the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, the Command Surgeon for the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, and the Program Manager for the Senior Leader Sustainment Program at the U.S. Army War College.
His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star (1 Oak Leaf Cluster), the Meritorious Service Medal (1 Silver Leaf Cluster), the Army Commendation Medal (2 Oak Leaf Clusters), the Army Achievement Medal (1 Oak Leaf Cluster), and is inducted into the Honorable Order of St. Barbara. He has earned the Expert Field Medical Badge, the Parachutist Badge, and the Air Assault Badge. He is a graduate of the Army Medical Department (AMEDD) Officer Basic course, AMEDD Captain's Career Course, and the Command and General Staff College.
He has a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing from The Pennsylvania State University and both a Bachelor's of Science and Masters of Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He has also completed the Joint Planners Course and the Defense Strategy Course.