Stephen DuBravac

Stephen Eugene DuBravac was born on 6 November 1944 in Reno, Nevada and on a good roll of the dice, was immediately received by a grateful and loving family and given their names: Stephen R DuBravac and Eugenie (Jackson) DuBravac--a mining engineer and school teacher, respectively. The family later moved to Henderson, Nevada, where he was educated in a Catholic grade school and played baseball in the Mojave Desert. DuBravac attended The New Mexico Military Institute, Roswell, NM from 1959 until 1964. He met his best friend, Aleithe Olcott at the then College of Southern Utah in Cedar City, and they were married in her hometown of Richfield, Utah in March of 1968. Following college, he was commissioned as an Armor officer in the United States Army and assigned to an armored cavalry unit. He served in command and staff positions from platoon to Headquarters, Department of the Army. DuBravac retired after serving 25 years having defended his country on three continents, serving in two hot wars, and one cold war. He was awarded the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, including one with distinction for valor, and the Purple Heart, as well as various other medals and citations, but he valued, above all, the soldiers with whom he served. He was a platoon leader and troop executive officer with the 11th Armored Cavalry in the Republic of Viet Nam from 1969-1970 where he was decorated for valor. During this tour of duty DuBravac responded to an Army request for continued service by checking the "YES" box on a post card and returning it to the Department of the Army. He was promoted to Captain in 1970 before leaving RVN. Following command of a company and the Armor Officer Advanced Course at Fort Knox, Kentucky, DuBravac commanded C Company, 1st Battalion, 32d Armor (Bandits), 3d Armored Division, Ray Barracks, Friedberg, Germany from 1972 until 1973. His command became the first tank company to qualify "All 17" tanks with distinct crews in Europe in a decade. He was then selected to be the battalion operations officer (S3) where he established programs that would be used to train soldiers for subsequent years. As a tactics instructor at Fort Benning, GA--The Home of Infantry, from 1975-1977, DuBravac successfully challenged his colleagues and students to embrace the labels and procedures for innovative tactical and operational procedures for Army combat units. Returning to Germany in 1977, DuBravac was assigned as a staff officer for the G3 at Headquarters, 3d Armored Division in Frankfurt and conducted division training exercises throughout Germany and in concert with NATO units. Promoted to Major in December 1978, DuBravac became the operations officer of the 3d Battalion, 33d Armor Regiment (Pickles), Kirchgoens, (The Rock), Germany. The life of the M60A2 tank bracketed DuBravac's service in Europe: He was the S3 for the first battalion to receive and the last battalion to have the M60A2 Main Battle Tank for defense of NATO. DuBravac was selected to attend USACGS at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1983 and in 1984 took a staff position in the War Plans Division of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations, The Pentagon, Washington, DC. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1985 and as he considered retirement in 1988, DuBravac was asked to take the position of executive officer for the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment. After considering the decision for 30 seconds, DuBravac moved his family to El Paso, Texas, in 1988, and then departed multiple times for unit training at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California; REFORGER exercises in Germany (including the last full equipment deployment from the US to Germany in 1988) and Holland; and, unit deployment in support of Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia. DuBravac retired in July, 2010 to spend his free time traveling the country visiting his children and grandchildren and serving dutifully as a full-time baseball fan. He put down his tools of life on February 27th, 2013 at the age of 68. DuBravac is preceded in death by his parents and two grandchildren and is survived by his best friend of over 45 years, Aleithe, and four children: Stephen (Gayle), Stayc (Christina), Shawn (Andrea), and Shalee (Jeremy); and twelve grandchildren. He was a true patriarch and a generous and protective husband, father, and grandfather. He was one of the world's great patriots who will be sorely missed by those who knew him and those he served. Visitation will be held at Demaine Funeral Home, Alexandria, VA, Monday, March 4, 2013, 5PM to 7PM. Stephen E. DuBravac will be interned with full military honors on the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in DuBravac's name to the National Museum of the United States Army.