Charles M. Vallee
The Charles M. Vallee Long Covid Research Foundation operates in honor of Charles Mack Vallee. Charlie was born on July 18, 1994. He died on May 3, 2022.
Charlie, Chuck, or Char, was a beloved son, brother, friend, citizen, and colleague. His warmth, humility, intelligence and kindness were known to all he encountered.
Born in Burlington, Vermont, Charlie grew up in South Burlington under the guiding hand of his brother Ted, three years his elder. Charlie’s Vermont life was interrupted dramatically when his dad, selected by President Bush to be Ambassador, plucked him and his brother from Vermont to accompany he and his mother to Slovakia. It was during Charlie’s stay in Slovakia that he discovered a love for foreign affairs and security studies, still a pre-teen but absorbing all around him, intrigued by the military as he played pool with the marines in the sky-room at the Ambassador’s residence.
On returning to the states, Charlie spent a year and a half at South Burlington High School and completed two years at the Taft School, where he captained the soccer team and was the third backup goalie for the hockey team. Inspired by a middle eastern affairs course at Taft, a course so popular that both teachers and students began to audit, Charlie’s simmering interest in security studies began to grow.
At Colgate, his slow burn interest in security studies began to flame with intensity—a degree in International Affairs, four years of Arabic studies, and the only college student in the U. S., helped by an energetic Colgate professor, who had a website to track jihadis. His internships were likewise focused—a summer in Israel at Herzliya University’s security studies area, a summer at General Keane’s Institute for the Study of War, and finally, upon graduation, at the Washington based Center for Strategic and International Studies in the Transnational Threats Group , where he remained for several years, and where he received the most extraordinary mentorship under Seth Jones, its leader.
From CSIS, Charlie joined the Defense Intelligence Agency as an intelligence officer, spending several years at Tampa attached to Special Operations Command, which attachment included a deployment to Jordan. Upon his return Charlie was awarded, among other accolades, SOCOM’s Civilian Employee Of The Year award. From Tampa, Charlie, anticipating further deployments, was transferred to DIA’s Defense Combatting Terrorism Center, where he continued his fine work, consistently noted. Charlie was a patriot.
In early 2022, Charlie’s life was impacted mercilessly when his covid exposure resulted in Long COVID with severe symptoms. These symptoms included tremor, involuntary and uncontrollable shaking of the extremities, persistent and debilitating headaches, inability to sleep, and worst of all, relentless and unforgiving brain fog rendering basic household tasks and everyday errands confusingly and insurmountably difficult. Social interaction became awkward, and reading and recall, and therefore briefing, his life’s work, nearly impossible.
Scheduled to be deployed to Iraq in March 2022, Charlie had pushed through pre-deployment training at a military base, but with his symptoms worsening in severity and his ability to override them through sheer force of will diminishing daily, he was forced to inform his superiors he feared putting his unit at risk if deployed.
In the days up to and following a subsequent medical leave of absence, Charlie had a full medical workup, an MRI, a day at the George Washington Long COVID Clinic, and was administered several experimental and existing drugs and supplements. He continued with regular and frequent consultations with his primary doctor, psychiatrists, and the family support system, but he became increasingly frustrated that no medical treatment with any efficacy was available nor discoverable.
The devastating effects of the illness took its toll. It was in this state that Charlie returned to God on May 3, 2022.