Dave Everett was born in 1947 on St. Simons Island, Georgia. He graduated from the University of Georgia, School of Forest Resources, with a bachelor's degree in Timber Management in 1969, and shortly before graduation he joined the Naval Air Reserve on April 30, 1969, going on active duty for Aviation Officer Candidate School at NAS Pensacola, Florida, on March 10, 1970. Everett was commissioned an Ensign in the Navy in July 1970, and then attended Naval Flight Officer school with VT-10 at NAS Pensacola from July to September 1970. He next attended Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) school at NATTC Glynco, Georgia, from October 1970 to January 1971, followed by F-4 Phantom II Replacement Air Group training with VF-121 at NAS Miramar, California, from February 1971 to February 1972. LtJg Everett served as an F-4 RIO with VF-151 at NAS Miramar from February to April 1972, and then deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Midway (CVA-41) from April 1972 until he was forced to eject over North Vietnam and was taken as a Prisoner of War on August 27, 1972. After spending 215 days in captivity he was released during Operation Homecoming on March 29, 1973. LT Everett was briefly hospitalized to recover from his injuries at the Naval Hospital at Jacksonville, Florida, and then attended instrument training with VF-43 at NAS Oceana, Virginia, from April to May 1974. His next assignment was as an F-4 RIO instructor with VF-101 at NAS Oceana from June 1974 to 1977, followed by service as an intelligence officer with the Office of Naval Intelligence at Norfolk, Virginia, from 1977 until his medical retirement from the Navy on September 14, 1978. After leaving active duty, Dave went back to school to complete his MBA at the University of Georgia, and then worked for the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Operations as an intelligence officer from 1982 until his retirement from the CIA's Senior Intelligence Service in December 2004. During his time in the CIA, Dave became one of only a handful of officers to receive the Distinguished Intelligence Cross, the highest decoration awarded by the Central Intelligence Agency.

His 1st (of 2) Bronze Star Medal w/Valor Citation reads:

For meritorious achievement as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam in August 1972. Through his ceaseless efforts, in an atmosphere of enemy harassment, threat of torture, and brutal treatment, he established and maintained intracamp communications. At great risk and in spite of further cruelty, he continued to devise many unusual and ingenious methods of communications, resulting in American and Allied prisoners resisting the enemy's demands and at the same time improving the prisoners morale. By his heroic endeavors, exceptional skill, and devotion to duty, he reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Naval Service and the United States Armed Forces.

The Combat Distinguishing Device is authorized.