A GREAT DAY INDEED

9 Feb. 2018

Dear Friends and Patriots,

          Once in a while something really interesting happens in my life.  Yesterday I had one of those days when everything about it exceeded my expectations.  I’ll share.

          Three weeks back I received a notice that Rear Admiral Jon Yuen would be paying a visit to Pascagoula, to visit the logistics outfitting team there.  That team works as a part of the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Gulf Coast, a Navy Sea Systems Command activity, but it’s actually a detachment of the Fleet Logistics Center, Jacksonville, FL.  Confusing?  Maybe.  It means I work for one Big Admiral and the logistics people work for another.  Admiral Yuen is their Big Admiral, and goes by a couple of titles:  Chief of the Supply Corps, and Commander, Navy Supply Systems Command. I care about such things for myriad reasons.  One is because I spent nine years as a member of that same logistics team before transferring to a waterfront job.  The other is I went to Supply Corps School in Athens, GA, known in the Navy as Pork Chop U., and was one class behind Admiral Yuen.  I hadn’t seen him since the day he graduated from there and went off to bigger and better things.

          It may seem a bit strange that I’d be interested in meeting up with someone I last saw almost 34 years ago, but Admiral Yuen and I have another link that’s bound us together for all time.  When he left Pork Chop U. he left with the orders I wanted.  You see, I spent five years aboard USS NARWHAL back in the ‘70s and I’d figured out their Supply Officer was ready to be relieved.  I had visions of being that relief and going back to serve aboard my old home ship.  I really, really wanted those orders.  But, it was not to be.   On orders reading day for the seniors I was in the auditorium to hear Jon Yuen’s name called out, followed by his orders, “USS NARWHAL in Charleston.”  I was floored!   Jon got my orders!

          Some might have had a tinge of resentment over such a thing.  But, I’d been watching Jon for a couple of months by then.  My wife and I would see him and his wife, Sandra, at the O-Club for the weekly Friday social.  It was obvious Jon wasn’t an average kind of guy, nor was she an average Navy wife.  They were very self-assured and sociable; likeable in the extreme.  We would acknowledge each other, but not much more.  Jon was in the upper class, and we had no history.  But, what was obvious was that he and Sandra were very smart, very open, and truly nice people.  Everyone were their friends.  How could I harbor any resentment over Jon getting to go to the ship I wanted?  Being ordered to any specific ship out of a Navy school is a roll of the dice at best.  I’m certain Jon didn’t ask for NARWHAL.  It was just one of those things, and I wished Jon well. 

          Some years later I was involved in setting up a reunion group for USS NARWHAL.  As part of our effort the team and I went to great lengths to identify each and every Sailor who ever had orders to the ship, just over 2,000 in total.  Jon was one of those, of course.  When it came time to do our first reunion event, in Groton, CT in 1995, we reached out to every crew member with good contact information.  I tracked Jon down and let him know what we were doing.  He couldn’t come.  He was tied down with his current assignment.  It was the same story for the 1996 reunion in Virginia Beach, and even for the 1999 reunion we held in Hampton, VA, concurrent with the ship’s deactivation.  Jon was busy, making the grade.

          In more recent years I’ve followed Jon’s career as my old Navy friends retired and moved on.  I kept track of where he was as he moved up to Captain jobs, and then onward as he was selected for Admiral ranks.  Nothing about that surprised me.  What did surprise me was seeing a truly great and admirable person get the ultimate job for a Supply Officer, a position known in the community as “The Top Chop.”  Jon is uniquely suited for that job, which may explain why he’s been in it so long.

          Yesterday I arrived in Pascagoula before Admiral Yuen.  I checked the place out to make sure I understood the logistics for the visit, chatted up a few friends in the building, and then took a front row seat in the assembly room.  Admiral Yuen arrived with his retinue to begin his address to the assembled crowd.  First, there was some glad-handing at the front of the room.  All the “big people” made sure of who everyone was.  One of the guys with the Admiral came over to me and I introduced myself to him and told him the Admiral and I had been at Supply Corps School together and that he’d served on my first submarine.  The guy looked at me a moment, then said, “Who do you think relieved him as SUPPO on NARWHAL?”  I drew a blank, and finally said, “Who?”  “Me,” he said, “Kevin Mooney.”  You could have knocked me over with a feather.  I’d corresponded with Kevin over the years but had lost track of him.  He is now the senior Navy civilian at the Fleet Logistics Center in Jacksonville, and he works for Admiral Yuen.  My world got a bit smaller in that brief moment.

          The address to the assembled work force was interesting in its tone.  There was no magic about it.  It was an Admiral’s “Thank You” to his troops for the jobs they’d been doing for years, with a bit of an apology for not paying a visit long ago.  It was his first visit to the area.  But, we all understand.  After all, there are Navy Supply operations practically everywhere in the world.

          After the Admiral’s remarks there were people milling about for a bit when he said, “Let’s all go outside and take a group picture.”  So, we all trooped outside and got our group picture.  It was after the photography session that I finally went up to the Admiral and told him who I was.  He didn’t act surprised.  He didn’t act confused.  He just grabbed me in the Yuen equivalent of a bear hug, with a huge smile on his face.  It was the greeting one might expect from a brother.  The Admiral wanted to memorialize the event of three NARWHAL Sailors together, so he had his aide take the photo below:

It was our own NARWHAL mini-reunion.         

After some pleasantries we moved inside to the next phase of the visit.  Admiral Yuen was to address the junior Supply Officers in town.  It was a rare occasion for them to receive counseling and wisdom from the community’s Top Chop.  I was allowed to sit in, which was a rare privilege.      

          There were seven junior Supply Officers in attendance.  They ranged from Ensign to Lieutenant in rank and possibly from 24 to 34 in age.  One of them was formerly enlisted.  Admiral Yuen opened up the session with a brief greeting and a discussion I’d characterize as acknowledgment of the usual desire for a junior officer to be a Captain someday.  He opened the floor for questions, and he got quite a few, and all were good, thoughtful, and perceptive.  As good as the questions were, it was the answers that drew my rapt attention. 

I’d never had the benefit of any Admiral’s counsel, but never imagined it would be anything like what I heard from Jon Yuen.  His feedback focus was not on the timeline and need for a record of achievement that most senior Navy officers seem to want to focus on.  His was very much more personal.  His was a focus that was more on how to have a great Navy career and be happy at the same time.  His was a focus on the entirety of the life of his Supply Officers.  He inquired about families and family plans.  He clearly communicated that if the family unit was not happy it would be hard for their Navy breadwinner to be either happy or fully successful.  Most of the dialog focused on decisions to be made, such as whether or not to become a parent and when, and all that goes with those decisions for years afterward.   Admiral Yuen tried to get the young SUPPOs to think far more broadly that just, “What serves me best,” and “What will ensure I do well in my career.”  He encouraged them all to think more holistically and to ensure they consulted their families about their needs before committing to any future career assignment.  What I found myself thinking was, “Would I be so wise?”

I had remarked to Jon that I enjoyed his Facebook posts the past few years.  I told him it was evident that he enjoyed what he was doing.  To the point, I remarked, “You always look so happy.”  His response was, “That’s because I am happy, Steve.  I have the best job in the world.”  I’m not 100% certain the Chief of The Supply Corps and Commander, Navy Supply Systems Command is usually the best job in the world.  But, I am 100% certain that Jon Yuen has made it so.

It does my heart good to know there are still truly decent, honorable, and humble people in leadership positions.  It’s too bad they all can’t be, but they aren’t.  I’m a lucky man.  I know a few of them in the Navy personally.  Jon Yuen isn’t the only one.  Frank Caldwell is another.  Maybe I’ll tell you about Frank someday.  You can look him up if you wish:  James Frank Caldwell, Jr.    Then there’s Bill Galinis.  You can look him up, too.   I count every moment in their presence as a gift.  It tells me there is still room for good people out there and we should all keep in mind the bad things we hear about fallen leaders are anomalies, not the norm.

8 February 2018 is a day I’ll always remember.  A great day indeed.

In Liberty,
Steve