Retirement Ceremony in Honor of Vice Admiral Ronald Boxall in Washington, D.C.



Retirement Ceremony in honor of Vice Admiral Ronald Boxall, June 17, 2022.

Transcript

Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. Okay. Mhm. Mhm mm mm. Red wait dress red. Right. Hey mm Sir. Mhm Order God where? Four huh? Right. Yeah. Huh Hello there. Forward four. Yeah prepare to fix bill down. Mhm. Good afternoon and welcome to the retirement ceremony for Vice Admiral. Ronald A box cell. Please stand for the presentation of colors. It better color mm. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah raise present crazy heart. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Mhm. Or their shoulder. Huh? The colors. Right. Think. Okay. Mm. What guests please be seated there come Mr. ready? What Ready? Right. Yeah he hey guests please stand for the arrival of the official party post the side boys Fred and yeah seven right part Vice Admiral United States Navy arriving. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff arriving. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. No. Okay mm. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Okay. Okay. Yeah. 22. What boson post the side boys guests please be seated very well. Mhm mm. Okay. No. Mhm. Yeah guests please stand for the playing of the national anthem and remain standing for the pass in review and invocation ray. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Their shoulder bear mm. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Hey Right shoulder right wheel. Huh. Word mm. Mhm. Yeah mm. Yeah chaplain Jerome A Henson. Executive assistant to the chief of chaplains will now offer the invocation. Let us pray almighty God we long for freedom. That precious state have ordered liberty only possible for the virtuous people whose virtue is found through faith in you be with us today as we celebrate a chapter of the professional life of a Guardian of that most precious freedom. Vice Admiral Ron box all as the memories of formation in upstate New York in a patriotic household. And the memories of time spent at sea safeguarding the great global commons and the memories of a Navy family of hardships endured and overcome as all these are treasured here today, stir up in all of us. Oh Lord! Our renewed sense of your presence in all that we do and in all whom we meet aid is to be thankful for those with whom we have shared the journey. Give us the faith to look forward to the future with hope. May we ever have those among us who will go down to the sea to serve upon above and beneath the waters of the deep for the cause of freedom in your most holy name. I pray amen guests. Please be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce the host of today’s ceremony. Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark A Milley, United States Army. Want to uh first say thanks ceremony like this doesn’t happen by accident and many, many people put this together. So I want to publicly thank and ask for a round of applause to the protocol teams about the army and the Navy and to the band and the troops that you saw the sailors that you saw marching past you today. So how about a round of applause for all of them? And put this together. And I want to thank tom Morley. And uh and the honorable Christine war meth Secretary of the Army and former Secretary of the Navy, former acting Secretary of the Navy technically for both being here and gracing us with your presence, it means a lot. I know Tehran and the family. So thank you both for being here. And I know we got Mike McCord here. We’ve got a whole bunch of folks from Cape. Where’s Mike? Is he here somewhere? Uh there we are. Okay, very good. Uh and so I want to thank both you and and I know we’ve got Susannah here, all the folks who deal with the money and this military of ours uh cannot operate Without money. Now Ron was a 20 and go, right, That means he had a G. P. A. of 20. But Mike McCord and Susanna and the rest of them were not. So they compensated for Ron as they dealt with a $740 billion budget. And I want to thank all of you for backing up Ron. So thanks Mike, Thank Susanna and thanks to the entire team and we have my Vice Vice Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff. Admiral Grady here, thank you sir for being here representing the admiralty. And we also have the Vice Cno. The Cno is on travel right now. But where’s the Vice Bill? Thank you, Thank you for being here. So no surprise the admiralty is well represented at the retirement of an admiral. So I wanna thank you for that, you know, thank you all for being here. But the most important people that are here and it’s not Ron, it’s not the admiral’s it’s not the secretaries, it’s Ron’s family. So they’re all over there. I’m gonna sign them by name here in a few minutes during remarks. But at this point I’d like to give you all a big round of applause for putting up with Ron. So thank you. You know, the rank of vice admiral is like a big deal. It’s huge. And the statistical probability Of making three stars in the Navy at any point in time. But especially today that the probability of doing that and I went on Syria, I googled this and it came out to be.0003. So I got a lot of budget people, a lot of auditors, they can check me on that.003. So if that’s true, which of course it is because it’s in google. So that means that you have a greater probability of being an American football player at Penn state, you have a greater chance of being the NFL and simultaneously playing in the NHL than you do of making Vice Admiral in the United States Navy? It’s an incredible achievement. And Ron box Hill has done it now. How does he do it? How do you make the rank of three stars? And I would offer you four things to think about. The first is he’s got to have courage and then he’s got to have competence and those two things, uh, sort of mix and match both in peacetime and in wartime because what we do in peacetime is a very, very dangerous endeavor. So competence, encourage and then he’s got to have commitment to sacrifice and he’s got to have character and Ron box has all of those. Ron is a proven combat leader who has not only led at the highest levels of the Navy, he has led in extraordinarily dangerous circumstances at their junior levels of the Navy. He’s had an incredible impact on his time on the joint staff and there are millions of soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, space guardians, we will never know Ron boxer, but they have benefited from his competence in his management at the very senior levels of the United States military. And you wonder how a guy can graduate To. Uh, he actually was to seven by the way. Uh, so I’ll give him a little bit of credit. I was a little bit below that. Ron was in the half of the class that made the top half possible, but I gotta tell you, I think the class of 84 is here are Penn State is here. Right, who’s from Penn State Holy smokes that was really weak. So let’s let’s try that again. This is a navy retirement ceremony for a three star who could have been in the NFL and the NHL simultaneously. How about a little bit more enthusiasm from Penn State? Yeah, I would have the first one. It sounds like you from the Naval Academy or something. So one more time from class of 84 west head at Penn State. One more time Penn State Nittany Lions. Remember God these guys are killing me. I get better voices out of Princeton. So but seriously Ron is demonstrated exceptional courage, commitment. His exceptional competence and character over the years. And why did he do it? He did it for his kids. He did it for all of our kids. He did it for Wendy, he did it for Connor uh he did it for cory his brother, he did it for bailey, he did it for his family and he did it for all of our families and his commitment has been to keep this nation safe. His commitment day in and day out has been to his oath to protect and defend the constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic and his vision. His desire is aspiration is to pass that constitution on to his Children unscathed to the next generation. It’s the same task that all of us have every soldier, Sailor Airman Marine Coast Guardsmen. Space Guardian, Every single one of us take that oath to protect and defend the constitution, the United States of America and not one time did Ron ever turn his back and in fact he was willing to die as we all are to give our life or limb to separate from our families to incur enormous sacrifice and suffering immense personal risk and protection of that document. Because embedded within that document is an idea. The idea that is America the idea that is our country. A very simple and powerful idea. An idea that says that Every single one of us, regardless of whether you’re male or female. It doesn’t matter if you’re white or black or Asian or Indian or no matter what the color of your skin. Doesn’t matter if you’re catholic or protestant, Muslim or Jew or Jews. Not to believe at all. Doesn’t matter where you came from. Doesn’t matter what country of origin you are. Doesn’t matter what your last name or rich or poor famous are common. What matters to Ron boxes? What matters to every single one of us in uniform? What matters is that oath to protect and defend? Because we are all Americans and under these colors of red, white and blue, you’re gonna rise or you’re gonna fall based on your knowledge, your skills, your attributes, your talent, your hard work, your perseverance and you’re gonna be judged by the content of your character, Not the color of your skin, That’s what’s embedded in that document that all of us are free and equal. And that is what Ron box has demonstrated at great risk over 38 consecutive years from the day he took his commission and alongside all of us in that pursuit to protect that document, to protect the idea that is America or our families. And they often times go unrecognized for their sacrifice and our families sacrifice more than we do. We in uniform know what we’re doing from day to day. But when Ron sets sail and went on deployment, went into harm’s way. His family never knew exactly where he was 24 7. They thought sometimes the worst. Our families suffer more than we do so to all the mothers and fathers, the Children, the siblings, the grandchildren and the grandparents, every one of them on behalf of all of us in uniform. I want to thank you all for sticking with us and I want to thank Wendy for being here today and for all the times that you stood the watch. Ron’s not the only one who stood the watch. In fact, you stood it much more than he did. You stood the watch at home during all of his deployments and you represent all that is good about all of the families for all of us. So thank you, thank you Wendy for what you’ve done and the sacrifice that you’ve made over three, almost four decades. You know, Ron grew up in a small town and New York in Holland Patton, Which as of this morning had a huge population. It went up actually to 317. It’s a big town, the big community and from that small town, Ron developed his character growing up with an uncle who made the assault landings at Iwo Jima, surrounded by many others who also served. He grew up with a father who put on the uniform of the New York state police and as a state trooper, he to put himself in harm’s way every day in a selfless service of others. His twin brother rob retired from the Navy as a Corman and is not with us today, but his other brother Corey is and he is a Marine corps veteran and he was also served in the Israeli embassy during the gulf war. The box old family is a family of service. Ron went to school at Penn State and as we already mentioned, Graduate in 84. And yes, just barely. He enjoyed Penn State, Penn State’s a public university. I have access to a lot of records. I looked him up. Ron was very enthusiastic as a student. He’s enthusiastic about sports playing squash. R. T. C. Glee club, cheerleading and of course Greek life. But the one thing he wasn’t enthusiastic about was going to class 2.07 Actually said to seven before it’s actually 2.07 Mike McCord would correct me. I was rounding up just trying to help him out. So, for those who are laughing just for the record, the world is run by C students and Ron. You’re one of those. So thank you. Who would have thought and I gotta tell you, there’s a whole bunch more out here. I got all your records. So, you know, Ron commissioned as an incident of course, against all odds. He actually finished flight school where they had to do a little math and I’ll break it to you Now. He actually grows up and commands a carrier strike group 2.07 to command a carrier strike group. That took courage that took exceptional competence through many, many years. He is literally a proven combat Later on 14 April 1988. Ron boxer was a young lieutenant. He was the fire control officer on the Uss Merrill, a destroyer in the Arabian gulf, participating in Operation praying mantis. Many of you may remember this. The Samuel Roberts struck an Iranian mine. The mind blow about a 15-foot hole in that ship flooded the engine room and knocked two gas turbines out of the mounts. The blast broke the keel of the ship and structural damage almost was fatal to the vessel. The crew fought the fire and flooding for five hours and saved the ship. Ron as the fire control officer on the Merrill recognized the severity of his job, but he also understood that just a few days later it was the Merrill who received the mission to sink the Iranian oil platform that was being used as a command and control structure for Iranian continued attacks on merchant shipping in the Arabian gulf. As the Merrill began navigating the very hazardous waters, enemy waters really. And the approach to the platform with Ron box all standing, the watch and the C. I. C. with 5″ guns, two of them mounted and ready under his command. He was executing the planned fire mission when the Iranians began firing deadly accurate fire at his ship, the Merrill, It was then that one of the Anglicans requested counter battery fire. Ron knew his job. He knew his crew and without hesitation he ordered the ammunition change in the magazine and he ordered manually timed rounds with senior officers wanting more information and ordering the crew to move faster. Ron knew at the time round was the right selection for the mission. Ron, as he has done many times on the joint staff ignored his senior officers and he went off to accomplish the mission. Ron ordered the fire mission with accurate effects on the Iranian vessel, he sunk it, thereby ending the engagement without accurate count of battery fires. The Iranian vessel may very well have killed sailors on board his ship or worse even sunk the ship, competence, courage, courage, under fire. That incident. For those who are students of history may have been enough to trigger a war between the United States and Iran at the time. So there are probably countless thousands of us who owe our lives to the unseen Ron box L. And the C. I. C. Of the USs Merrill Ron boxer was doing his duty every day with competence. Later as the commander, he commanded the USs Kearny A. D. D. A. Destroyer During the lead up to the Iraq War where his crew conducted over 300 very dangerous boarding operations in the Arabian gulf, escorting ships, boarding ships, conducting searches and seizures, all very dangerous stuff. He took the lessons he learned as a young officer about trust and managing risk and above all, taking care of the people that were entrusted to him. He’s a leader of character after commander the Carny. He came here to D. C. Any wrote the quadrennial or participate in the writing Of the Cardinal Defense Review as part of the J eight. It’s not the most exciting thing. It certainly isn’t as exciting as writing a gun on the Uss Merrill. But it was no less important because that document set the path for the joint force modernization which we are living with today. His work started back then and is still being used to guide our joint force as we work through modernization and force design. He left the joint staff and command of the USs Lake Carrie, arriving shortly after the ship famously shot down a satellite using a modified surface to air missile as a preview of the future character of war under his command, the lake area continue to test Ballistic missile intercepts and successfully intercepted missiles 12 miles over the Pacific Ocean in order to defend the Homeland. Incredible teamwork under his leadership competence at every turn. And most recently, Ron commanded the Carrier Strike Group, Carrier Strike Group three where he was embarked on the john Stennis. The USs john Stennis Ron’s leadership was pivotal during the very tense time in the pacific as we came very close to war with north Korea and many of you may remember that a few years ago having a carrier strike group in the pacific is a, a big deal. You’re out there maybe two weeks or so from any friendly country. You have the lives of Not only 3500 sailors and marines in your hands, but many, many more. And in fact you have the lives of tens of thousands of Americans that are here in the homeland and you’re protecting them. And then he came back to the house of pain at the pentagon at the, as a J A Ron was the exactly the right person to be in charge of our efforts of force structure of the resource in the assessment that goes into building the joint force as we all know, the character of war is changing and we must change and adapt to meet this in the very near future. And Ron has spent the last three years helping design that force to protect America. So thank you Ron not only for your courage and your competence at sea, but for your commitment, your competence and indeed your courage. Here in Washington D. C. You are off the charts in every single way imaginable. You are a superb officer and were enormously proud of what you’ve done over 38 years and the person who served along wrong side for almost four decades now, I don’t know how you’ve done it. Wendy putting up with them but his Ron’s wife, he would not be here today without Wendy. So how did they meet? Well, I was told that that is T. S. Code word and I am not allowed to say it. However, he threw a house party and while he was an aspiring naval aviator, just like in the movies wearing the whites, you know, look looking like top gun. Let’s say it right now. I can’t say it right now. But look at the best thing that ever happened. Iran was Wendy For over 30 years when he’s been at his side And the mother of two wonderful Children. A professional in our own right in advertising and sales. Someone who has sacrificed enormously Wendy, thank you. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your love and your partnership because it’s been every bit important to our nation as Ron’s service and uniform. So thank you again, Wendy. So we’ll never put in words the thanks we can give Wendy. But those that sacrifice even more than mom and dad are the Children, the Children of those of us who are informed and in this case, bailey and Connor both literally born into the Navy. It hasn’t been easy deployments to the Middle East. Late nights in the pentagon. Thank you. Thank you for standing tall when the days are bad. Thank you for loaning us your dad for literally your entire life. Thank you for sharing your mom with us as she took care of families. Thank you. Thank you for those lonely nights. Thank you for those Miss Sports Games. Thank you for the birthdays that dad wasn’t there. Thank you for the worry that you had imagining the worst about what happened to your dad. Thank you. There are no words in any dictionary that can thank the child of a service member enough and you didn’t volunteer, you were drafted. You didn’t have a choice. You were born into this life. And every single child of every single soldier. Sailor, Airman Marine Coast Guardsmen you represent today. Every single one of them. And thank you for your service and your sacrifice. So Ron Wood makes me proudest of Ron box Hill is not his courage. It’s not his commitment. It’s not as competence, although all of them are exceptional in every way. What makes me most proud of Ron is his character. His ability to speak truth to power in a very professional way. His ability to have a spine of titanium steel when the pressures are very, very intense. Ron box cell is the consummate professional, always maintaining his integrity and most importantly having a sense of humor in a deep, real abiding sense of personal humility and that is a quality all too often missing in today’s world. Ron boxes in my view reflects all that is good about America. All it is good about the officer corps. All that is good about the admiralty. And it reflects the fundamental values of America and all that is good about every single one of us that wears the cloth of our nation. Very few people get the lead our troops. Very few people become a flag officer Ron. You stand here today literally and figuratively with your head held high in front of not only your friends and family, not only in front of the navy, But you stand here today, retiring after 38 years of faithful service in front of a grateful nation, all of whom are grateful to you, your service and your sacrifice, most of whom will never know you. You never turned your back on the oath that you took as a young man at Penn state. The oath to the constitution. The oath that is the idea that is America. The idea that you were willing to die for in the Persian gulf. The idea that you trained for in the pacific the idea that you served in the pentagon. Your parents, your family are incredibly proud of us and we are all proud of you Ron on behalf of the nation, on behalf of the Navy and on behalf of the Joint Force. Both holly and. And I want to thank you on behalf of everyone that’s here and thank your family and let you know that we all very deeply are grateful and we salute you Ron. Boxing guests please stand Vice Admiral Box cell. Will you please join General Milley. General Milley will now present the Distinguished Service Medal to Vice Admiral Box Cell. The Secretary of Defense takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Medal to Vice Admiral Ronald A Box Cell, United States Navy for service as set forth in the following citation. Vice Admiral Ronald A Box Cell. United States Navy distinguished himself by exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility. As Director For structure, resources and assessment directorate. The joint staff from June 2019 to June 2022, demonstrating leadership model, professionalism and brilliant analytical insight. He superbly supported the chairman and vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in execution of a broad range of critical national security issues, orchestrating efforts of the Joint Staff Directorates Services, combatant commands and coordinating closely with the Office of the Secretary of Defense over three budget cycles. His actions ensured key warfighting priorities were adequately resourced and aligned with the national Defense strategy. He, along with the controller publicly rolled out that apartment $700 billion budgets to Congress, the media and public organizations. As the joint requirements oversight council secretary, he spearheaded one of the most dramatic shifts since its inception with a more top down driven capability portfolio management review process that perfectly aligned to the joint warfighting concept. He was also responsible for the department’s adoption of the newly created directed readiness tables, one of the most powerful tools the department uses to balance risk in planning for global force management of joint forces. Additionally, Vice Admiral Box Cell oversaw studies, analysis and gaming division which conducted a tabletop exercise that was developed to enable our nation’s top leaders to help better understand the challenges associated with covid response. These insights provided improvements to the supply chain distribution and saved lives by streamlining challenging vaccine distribution in execution. The distinctive accomplishments of Vice Admiral Box will culminate a distinguished career in the service of his country and reflect great credit upon himself. The United States Navy, the Joint Staff and the Department of Defense General Milley will now present a congratulations citation letter from the Secretary of Defense to Vice Admiral Box Cell to say thank you for his years of service. The Secretary of Defense would like to thank Vice Admiral Box cell for his 38 years of service to our nation. The Department of Defense is grateful for your exceptional leadership and lasting contributions to the United States military. From your early days as a combat systems officer to commanding the USs Carney and U. S. S. Lake Erie. You have embodied the core values of the United States Navy and as commander of carrier strike Group three, you deployed to the western pacific and the south china sea to help fulfill the vision for a free and open indo pacific ashore. As Director of force, structure, resources and Assessment on the joint staff. You have worked hard to make sure our warfighting priorities are properly funded and aligned with the national defense strategy and in the midst of the pandemic, you oversaw the study’s analysis and gaming division And conducted a tabletop exercise to help senior leaders understand how to best respond to COVID-19. This generated insights that streamlined vaccine distribution and saved lives. You have set a great example for future generations on what it means to lead with strategic vision under pressure. Thank you for your professionalism, dedication and sacrifice throughout your decades of distinguished service. I would also like to thank Wendy bailey and Connor for serving right alongside you Charlene and I send our warmest wishes for a well-deserved retirement. Ladies and gentlemen, the following is a recorded congratulatory message from the British chief of Defense staff. Admiral sir, Anthony Tony Reddick in to Vice Admiral Box Cell. Hello Ron and family and all our US friends. I’m very sorry not to be with you on such an auspicious day. But Ron I just wanted to reflect on your amazing career, your leadership and to say thank you on behalf of all of us in the UK armed forces and especially me personally for all your support, your amazing leadership and also for your friendship. And this is a very special day. And hopefully you’re looking back with pride on that career but also looking ahead to the future and I’m going to miss you Ron and I’m definitely going to miss you in terms of squash. I can’t believe that you’re leaving with the trophy in your hands. What a rum deal. And also I’ve just heard from Jack in rude and Nico and so on that you they described it that you whipped their arses so well done old fella because it shows that some of us might have a hope. But really Ron, I hope you’re enjoying today. Sorry not to be with you. Hope to see you again ideally on the squash court and wish you the very, very best and massive. Thank you for all of us in the UK for all the amazing efforts that you’ve done on our behalf over the years, keeping both our countries safe. Very best wishes, cheers from Mrs. Box Cell. Please join General Milley and Vice Admiral Box Cell so that you can be recognized for your service to a grateful Navy and a grateful nation. The chairman will now present a certificate of appreciation provided by the Chief of Naval Operations. Admiral Michael M guild a to Mrs. Wendy Box cell in support of her patriotic unselfish, faithful and devoted service during Vice Admiral Box Als. Military career guests. Please be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, Vice Admiral Ronald a box cell. Okay, the first thing I wanna do. Where’s Jim, Kilby? Is he up there? All right, Jim. You’re in white. I love you. Can I borrow your hat? Yeah. Let me see it real quick. Okay, thank you. Jim. You notice this is different than mine. Yeah. When you’re in a hurry in the morning to come here to this pretty important event, you get most everything done. There’s always a little something you can’t remember to. You look at yourself on the screen and say I got the wrong hat on. Okay, nicely done. Jim. Thank you. I’m glad to see you were not the same head size either. All right, Well, you know, I know we were gonna do this outside, but you know, I am the guy that does assessments and analysis in the joint staff and you know, I got the team together and I asked him said, Hey, you know, it’s gonna be 95 out there. I think it’s gonna be okay. I think I’ll be ready to go. And so we made a clear decision two to have it outside. And then I went to Wendy, I said Wendy, we’re going to do it outside. And she said like hell. So here we are. So you can thank Wendy for having an inside in this beautiful facility by now. I’m completely off the script. I do want to thank everybody. We went through everyone. I don’t do it again. But Miss Warmack Madam Secretary, it’s been an honor to have you here. Great to work with you. You know, many years ago, the QDR. This is a lot better here than that stuff, but uh, and secretary medley again. Thanks for seeing you. I look and see my, uh, joint staff. Uh, you know, obviously have the chairman here, but the Vice chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chris Grady and I, we’ve known each other many years and his wife Christine the very, very close friends in the Navy for many years and, and uh, we’re just thrilled to have you here. It was great working you for too short a time. Um, but I know you’re doing incredible things with J Rock and well, I’m glad I know you got the bone in your teeth about where you want to go with this thing and I’m excited to see how it, how it goes. Uh, I look up and see my fellow, the other honorables up here. Uh, you know, it’s really funny. I look at him, I know more than, you know, maybe I should for some of them being honorable. But anyway, uh, but I do see Susanna Blume, the Cape Director, Israel Brummer, you know, previous Cape. Uh, there’s mike McCord. Uh, you know, we have kind of this lunch bunch with mara, Karlin, dr Carlin as well. Who’s, uh, you know, they’re all honorable and I’m the only one that’s not honorable. And uh, so I really feel like today’s my dishonorable discharge. That’s really what this is. So, but a whole bunch of other great folks, Tony Curtis long history. Vice chief. Great to have you here. Uh, and again, I just so many friends, family. How many give it a Penn stater one more time. Where are you? All right? Yes. Okay. That was a little better. I think you confused because they said 80 for none of them were 84. So, so that was probably the problems. I don’t know if terry Blakey out there somewhere. Terry there you are. Yes. Good to see you rick on. I see you tom Rodan. Are you here somewhere? There? He is. Hey, so first terry Blake taught me a long time ago. Um, you know, I’m a budget guy. And his motto back then was, you know, we’re not happy til you’re not happy. And so we’ve carried that forward and you know, we’re still doing that Tom road and I, we have a video out there somewhere that you can probably find on the Internet. We did it so happy together. But we really were so happy together. And then 96 as we changed unmanned surface vessels and ships and all this other stuff. So, uh, pretty cool stuff. A lot of former shipmates here, former shipmates raise your, just give me, give me a shout out out there. Former shipmates. Yes. I think we’ve got every ship I’ve been on here and also the strike group. So we’ll talk a little bit about some of that. Anybody from the hill or congress here. That was intentional. We got any Super Bowl champions here, Ricky Ricky. Hey, all right. Riki Ellison down there. You no good to have you here. Uh, I hope you’re not gonna throw it and hit me in the face with the ball today. That’s happened a few times. It’s great. But I do have a lot of my Penn state or friends here. Ron and Kim police and the family here. Um, you know, just to know, Ron was my big brother in my fraternity. Um, his whole family’s here. They’ve come from London Florida. The west coast in New York city to be here. And it really means a lot as well as, uh, former cheerleaders. Yes, I was a cheerleader pencil. I can’t believe that. Didn’t come up in your speech Chairman. I wasn’t listening. I think I was out at that point, but Jim Wagner here, fellow chillier Dave Daley. I think a former Nittany lion should be out there and lee Giannone who is a former also fraternity brother and his, uh, you know, he and I have been very, very close over the years. He was the cheerleading coach at Penn state. So, uh, pretty cool stuff. But most of all, again, my family, uh, you know, how about how many of my family are out there? All right. All right. Come on, guys work it up. Okay, that’s a trick question. I think you’re all family. I really do. But I will say my family, a lot of them are still sitting there in upstate New York. Um, as chairman said, you know, Holland patent New York. My, my father’s up there and he’s got probably a good percentage of the town sitting there in his living room watching this. Hopefully they figured out how to do it. Who knows? That’s usually my call. So, we’ll see. And before I do want to, I don’t want to give a shout out. I know we talked to Naval district and uh, military district Washington. We don’t usually do these here for the navy. This is one of the first, if not the first and I don’t know why we wouldn’t. It’s a fantastic facility, but I did have a lot of military district Washington kind of own the facility. And then I had kind of Navy district Washington on the people. So I was like, why don’t we just create a joint district Washington. What do you think? Vice chairman, let’s do it. All right, stand by everybody. All right. That’s not gonna be on my watch. I do want to thank Natalie, Bradshaw lee shoemaker who’s here with his wife, nine months pregnant uh, literally is at a doctor’s appointment today for his wife and calling me to say, sir, you know, you got to do this, this this you never mentioned the hat, but thanks cover, we call it actually. But anyway, and chairman, I do thank you for taking the time out of your incredibly busy schedule um, for just being here today. Um, general pace when he was here. He used to say he was in a dead end job, you know, which is true, I mean kind of But I think back on the journey through historic events are past few years from Iranian threats in Syria and the Middle East, a domestic unrest in the capital and throughout the country, and the scourge of covid and trying to run the pentagon and keep peace in the world with only a skeleton crew in the building. And we wanted to be a prime mover to lead the free world’s military support to Ukraine and the defense of the egregious violation of the sovereignty by Vladimir Putin and created the largest and bloodiest conflict on European soil since World War Two. And of course all the time. Keeping an eye on the enduring challenge of an increasingly assertive china those of us interacting with you every day, know that you only ask all of us what you ask of yourself. But it is a lot When we see how much your passionate energy go into your tireless and sometimes thankless title 10 role of providing unfettered military advice to presidents, Congress, secretaries regardless of party. And for us, it stings a little bit when we see you criticized from every direction. But through it all you remain calm. You would remind us daily in a very joint way. Stay steady in the saddle. That’s a good land reference. Keep an even keel maritime reference. Keep your wings level eyes on the horizon. That’s an air reference. Keep your satellite in a steady orbit. Actually. He never said that, but I figured in the interest of diversity inclusion. I want to make sure the space force didn’t feel left out. I know I speak for my fellow Jader is when I say, and I think they’re all pretty much over here. I saw them somewhere where here we are. Thanks guys for coming out. I did everything I could get you out of the building by 4 30. You know, you’re welcome. Yeah, there’s drinks too. Afterwards. All right. So we had, we were having our morning meeting at seven a.m. Video meeting near the beginning of the covid isolation. We went from in person to these meetings that came to my turn and I keep the microphone and mentioned that I was leading that day’s tank briefing with the combatant commanders and the Joint chiefs. I need to see you briefly before the meeting and there were a couple of contentious issues. You replied sorry. Around, you know, I don’t have time. You know, you have to get a call with the president or some world leader or whatever. So I shut off my microphone or so I thought, and I said to my vice director and Chief of Staff, this tank is gonna be a ship show. I was, well, I knew something was up when I saw everybody’s face laughing on the screen. But mine, General Haydn’s left broke the silence. Hey Ron, I think you’ve got a hot mic. Well by now we had figured that we had your immediate attention and you said, Hey, what’s it? So let’s get down there, get down here and fill me in right now. So again, those are the measures that we all have to do to get your time sir. And I think they learned from this, I’ve seen a lot of hot mic since then. So you know, but it does give you a chance. It is kind of reminiscent for me to go back to the fall of 79 and I was a 16 year old upstate New York High School kid from this village. We talked about and generationally knowing no one in my family had ever gone to college and I’d never even traveled to another state. My dad was a state trooper and mom was a medical secretary and we had four boys, you know, paying for college would be a steep task. So I applied for full roid rosie scholarships. I plan to do the two year and punt thing right. I already had offers from the Air force. I had offers from the army and they were both pushing me for my commitment. The Navy interview was last. My dad drove me to an old hangar at Hancock field in Syracuse New York. On a Saturday I had on my best suit a hand me down from my cousin Susie in walks a navy pilot with his flight suit smelling like jet fuel plops, his helmet on the desk, introduced himself and says, let’s get this over with. He asked a few questions. He said, just say no to the drug questions. It’s easier that way. Wrote some notes, shook my hand and five minutes later he said, somebody will be in touch. I felt so used. What was wrong with me? Wasn’t I good enough. I knew at that moment that I was going navy if they offered and they and they did. It is fitting however, that we do end our career on an, on an army base. It is a joint base but it’s an army base as it started in an army base in the fall of 80 with my one week Rosie in dock run by the marines at fort Indian town gap Pennsylvania. On the first day I met glen Doyle in the same barracks. Penn state was awesome but it wasn’t an auspicious start. As the chairman mentioned, I was into everything and no, you didn’t hear the word academics anywhere in there. And two years later facing academic expulsion from the road c unit, I received some divine intervention that saved my bacon and ultimately graduated in shall we say the top 99% of my class. Your your, your intel is very good sir. Very good. My mom bragged about the top 99% thing for years. Bless her heart. So in the summer of 84 Glen and I loaded up all earthly possessions into his 1975 or so. Brown ford Maverick and headed to Pensacola and four of us found a four bedroom snake ranch on the white sandy beach that we all bought. Ourense and mobiles. Mine was an 83 red mustang convertible. We were living our best life In March 85 we threw the beach batch to end all beach batches. Two fine looking ladies on spring break had seen our printed flyer. The Flora Bama lounge, a lovely establishment If you’ve been there, Wendy and Joy were reunited. Park city high school friends and Wendy was visiting Joy and gulf shore’s and she was there for the University of Utah and on their way to Fort Walton beach, decided to stop by, they saw the cars, the beach, the guys, the beer and stuck around for a bit. They were convinced that we were blue angels. Maybe that’s because Glenn told him that We also maybe told them that maybe told them there was a huge accident backing up the Fort Walton Beach traffic for hours and they should probably just stay at our party. That’s how fake news traveled in the 80s people. Glenn and Joy became and I have been married about a year later and they’re here today. Hello, there you go. Great friends. This day I’ve married off their daughter. I got, I paid the 10 bucks on the internet like everybody else does. Glenn and Joy became an item and married that year and I on the other hand, moved much more slowly when he returned to the University of Utah. While I was deemed physically disqualified for I had to find another designator. I applied for surface warfare picked the west coast because Wendy and I have been carrying on this distance relationship and Utah was right on the way to san Diego. Not really. I was sent directly to the USS Kincaid in early 86. Now, almost two years behind my peers. I didn’t want really anything to do with surface warfare, but Kincaid was part of a new anti-submarine squadron just stood up to take on the soviet submarine threat. Within weeks we were sub hunting in the Eastern pacific with our new total Ray sonar working with other ships lamps, Mark one helicopters, submarines, P three patrol aircraft. We tracked Yankee class submarines for nine straight days, pinging them day and night. It was a hunt for red October before tom Clancy even thought of it. We pulled into Victoria. Vancouver, skeeter glacier and whistler road trolleys in san Francisco took ship six ships up the Colombian, Willamette rivers to a hero’s welcome at the Portland Rose Festival all in a few months. This is good stuff. I think I might like it when we got back to san Diego when he had already moved to Coronado and we were engaged shortly thereafter I went to swat and then it was a sign of the Merrill first Tomahawk cruise missile ship in the navy and the ability to strike both land targets and ships at very long ranges. And I was the gunnery officer. Well, he told you the story about, you know, the Persian gulf thing. And uh, what he didn’t tell you is that the Samuel B Roberts should have sunk that day that night. Uh, we were very close to him all night long. Uh, unbelievable listening to their voices on the net. You know, they lose power. They restored power and hearing the captain’s voice. I’ll never forget it as long as I live knowing we were the next closest ship and also that we were also going to be in a minefield. Their captain I think is here today. Captain Paul Ryan, are you here? Hey, Captain Paul rin is really is their motto was no higher honor and it is my honor to consider him a friend and mentor of mine and he’s an inspiration to us and future generations, the surface warfare’s today, Golf. You know, the response to the 14th April thing and uh, you know, it was really a one day war with Iran where they just were not ready to take on our navy that day and it was over within a matter of hours with most of their navy sunk. The following year. I returned when he got married and I got married in Coronado and we’re expecting to get out of the navy, that’s what I said I was gonna do when my former Merrill, my former Merrill XO lieutenant commander Hank Sanford, who was now ashore, asked me what it would take to keep me in. I said if I can get my master’s degree, I would stay for another four years. That’s easy. He told me, however, he quickly realized that the top 99% class standing, uh, was probably not gonna cut it from the over my dead body response from the emissions official. So hank worked a deal for me to take this G. R. E. And if I scored well enough, they allowed me to be a probationary student throw, throw everything at me and ultimately I was admitted probated and graduated another divine intervention and after department had school hank now the CEO of Uss Simpson in Newport. It was a Rhode island based frigate, asked me to be his combat systems officer and I leapt at the chance for working for a passionate, inspiring, capable family oriented leader. And under Hank the Simpson was a fantastic ship in every respect. We supported operations on former Yugoslavia, United Nations humanitarian missions in Somalia right after Black Hawk down well as enforcing U. N. Sanctions against Iraq and the gulf of Aqaba. I surely would not be here today without hank’s leadership and his command example. He passed away a few years ago. His wife Kate is here and his daughter Mary Sanford is in my side boy detail. I’d like to recognize them. I go back to that 16 year old kid he never could have imagined they would get to command billion dollar warships and an independent deploy them around the world or that he’d get to take an entire aircraft carrier strike group to the south china sea or they get to fly Mach one in the F 18 and buzz the tower after I was deemed to be physically unqualified to fly or that I could live in a Hawaiian paradise with water and a mountain sunset views on Pearl harbor and wave Hello and goodbye to my family as the ship entered and exited. Report, I’ll never forget the various wardrobes hiking on the island of Borneo, skiing in Nagano, Japan sailing and surfing in Hawaii touring all over Europe. The Riviera’s African coastline and the paradise that is the Seychelles. I remember crossing the line ceremonies, eating God knows what a Korean barbecue, betting on sumo wrestlers in Tokyo hailing and fare welling at raffles long bar in Singapore, eating monkey meat in the Philippines, windsurfing on Christmas day in Hurghada, Egypt midsummer festival in Sweden where it doesn’t get dark all night long. I won’t easily forget the family cruises to Maui Tiger cruises to the big island into the iron Man escorting the queen Mary two into fort Lauderdale under heavy security post 9 11 or how about getting to dine with a royal family member or beating the first sea Lord now the British chief of defense in an ongoing squash tournament series or driving the ship backwards to keep satellite reception for NFL and Penn state football games. It’s all legal. I was teaching them sub hunting tactics even in the pentagon could have ever expected that I get to be part of a team of brilliant swallows and civilians that would reshape the future of the navy surface fleet with a new frigate and a newly envisioned large and medium unmanned surface vessel. We’re figuring out how to add new long range and hypersonic missiles and a common combat system for all navy ships Or that I get to roll out three different 700 plus billion dollar budgets with three different controllers. One of the things, one of the things I’ll miss the most are the days of having the most dedicated and passionate leaders work for me on Carnie. All the department heads I had and some of them are here today went on to command and some of the major command and some are still going on lake Erie. The officers, chiefs, mess and crew were perhaps the finest around. And in my strike group, our warfighting commanders made seven admirals in the group. Any buffoon could have seated in those with those types of talent in their wardrobes in the pentagon and on the navy staff are in 96. Teams were the best pose in the fleet with civilians equally dedicated And the same is true with my groups at J the generals, admirals and CSS who worked for me. Uh, as I was holding on for dear life, I do have to admit. There are many things I hope I never do get to go do again. Like I never thought I’d spend time trying to figure out who’s prints were in the snow. After a scalding Japanese outdoor bath. Hotel manager complained and we had to go figure it out. Nobody ever fessed up. We did a lineup in everything. I’ll also forever try to get the memory out of my head of using my teeth to pick a cherry out of a sweaty grease laden quartermasters belly. A K. A. The royal baby during a crossing the line ceremony at the equator, sadly, this was long before the Navy’s body fat and hazing policies were put in place. I won’t miss the under day, way days when food got low, like when we were in the Caribbean for a couple of weeks eating the same rubber beef at every meal. So we challenged the helicopter detachment to fly into the Virgin Islands to get his pizza. I know I got the Navy, I G here, I’m not gonna tell you too much of that story, but it was all legal. We’re going in anyway. And uh, we did pick up some pizzas. If anybody wants to know how many pizzas you can fit into a helicopter, just come and ask me. And I think, you know, maybe Admiral Lester probably knows the answer as well. So 75 I won’t miss duty days staying on the ship every three or four days would import and I’ve never missed that horrible feeling about captain’s mast and having to take away money and to restrict a sailor who’s working his life off restricting the ship with a family, especially during the holidays, but it was necessary for good order and discipline. I also don’t ever want to feel what it feels like to lose shipmates and friends, whether in combat 911 at the Pentagon, mental conditions, collisions, training accidents, suicides or aircraft crashes. There’s a disproportionate loss of human life in this business and we all know too much. They’re in my thoughts today as well. There are too many folks to thank here, but I do want to call out my family tom and Andrea Whittaker, my extended family, your West Coast home has been our forward operating base. And from your first visit from our first visit to your home in Monaco to flying to Singapore. You guys have always been there for us. We love you guys and keep my cabana open to my father and my mom. She recently passed a couple of months ago and I’m sure she’s listening in heaven. Probably talking some poor guy’s head off. I should probably figure out how to get the internet up there somehow. Dad, you taught us to work hard and play hard and you always brought a sense of humor. I’ll never forget having you meet Marilyn Seattle and with Pete McCarthy and riding the ship’s last leg home to san Diego and again with Pete and Gordon daily on the last leg home from Norfolk to Mayport on Carney and my last day in Ship command on Lake Erie with uncle john, how fitting that you were there. I love you as a New York state trooper. You instilled a sense of patriotism, service and duty and as such. Three of us went into the Naval service. Mom taught us to see the good in everyone to trust first forgive quickly and always seek harmony. She would be bragging as I set up a storm and I guarantee that she was looking down on us right here today. My brothers rick and rob rob was the retired Korman. My twin brother and their wives Chris and Shirley are watching from New York and have helped with mom and dad when we haven’t been able to and I’m lucky to have them there. My brother Cory, he’s the former marine with the high and tight and a beard. How does that work? Ah So are there any marines here aura? Where is that? Hey. All right, outstanding. I can’t see who it is. Okay. Outstanding. All right, very good. Anyway, Corey lives here in northern Virginia with us near us, not with us. I lived with him for a while. It was not pretty. Um but he and his wife Kathleen and the boys are the closest family we have and we spent many weekends and holidays with them and have traveled far and wide to visit over the years. I love you all to my sons bailey and Connor. I will cherish the time we sailed together from san Diego to Hawaii and Maui, Maui and Kona where we got to see lava flowing into the ocean from lake Erie’s bridge wing. I know it was hard not having me there especially during Christmases birthdays and I missed both half your high school years In 2010. You didn’t see the tears in my eyes as I was reading you towards the night before Christmas. I didn’t have the same version that you had in the book and you were quick to point out my ears. I also remember getting awakened in my cabin by the watch team on the carrier while exactly on the other side of the world Sir, it’s four a.m. you have a phone call from home. I was like this can’t be good news. Next voice I hear is Connors. Hey dad, do you know where mom is? Can I go over to Ben’s house? Yeah, yeah, go ahead. We did have this kind of standing order that I did write in if bailey calls, he can go over to this friend’s house but not this one, you know and so they took care of it after that. It was all good regardless boys, I always know how much you try to make the best of the time we did have together and I’m very proud. I tried to make the best of the time we did have together and I’m very proud of the many you’ve both become, you’ve enriched our lives in ways you’ll never understand until you have your own Children. I hope you both see that there will be bumps along the road in your journeys and we will be there every step of the way I love you both so much and look forward to more time with you both. And again back to that 16 year old who couldn’t possibly ever foresee this wonderful life ahead of me. I made lifelong friends. I spent a lifetime of learning. I have an overwhelming sense of gratitude for being able to have served a life of purpose. But most mostly I feel gratefulness for finding a partner in life who makes it also fulfilling and filled with love Wendy. Isn’t this always where that happens? I have specifically wore run free mascara for this moment. You’re always there to provide stability and calm in the face of stormy seas, namely trying to explain a kid where daddy is this navy life was not the one you chose, but one you have embraced a life where you sacrificed your own career goals to allow me to be the officer I wanted to be. You worked harder than I did most days, especially when I was stationed in the West coast and deployed and you kept the home fires burning here with two high schoolers back east. Any success that I have would not have happened without you nor would have meant anything without you. I found an old Western Union telegram that I’ve sent to Wendy upon return from our first deployment Note for the younger crowd. A telegram is essentially an 80s version of a text message that you pay $20 for. Could you imagine? Could you even imagine I was reading this thing saying, you know, it was something like this. Wendy, stop. Only one day left. Stop your love and support over the last six months has been fantastic. Stop. I couldn’t have made it without you. Stop, I love you. Stop. P. S. I have duty the first day in stop. That’s about how it went. Right finally. I just want to see a say a big thank you I guess to you chairman and whoever wants to listen. I’m so thankful and honored for the privilege of serving this great nation for nearly four decades. And the experiences in relationship that we have enjoyed May God bless you in your leadership role as we navigate the challenges in this world. God bless our joint force and all the soldiers, Marines, airmen, guardsmen and space guardians unwatched around the world so that we can remain safe and free. But most of all, God bless our sailors whom I’ll miss the most. Thank you all for being here to share this day with us and don’t give up the ship. Thank you. Yeah, and thanks for the hat Jim. I will now read my orders, guests please remain standing retirement orders for Vice Admiral Ronald a box. All cno order 061 to your request to be transferred. The retired list has been approved by the Secretary of Defense, effective one august 2022. You will be transferred to the retired list in the grain of Vice Admiral. You have been relieved in June 2022 from duty as Director for structure and resources and Assessment, J A. Joint staff. You are relieved of all active duty. Effective 23 59. 31 July 2022. Hold on my flag hall down. Vice Admiral Bruxelles flag. Mhm. Yeah. Thank you. Mhm guests please be seated. Thanks. Vice Admiral Box als personal flag has been hauled down for the last time and will now be presented by his joint staff. J Deputy directorate team Major General Lewis, Major General Adams. Brigadier General Lew Rear Admiral walt come forward. The Joint Staff J. Eight Front office will now present a gift from the Joint staff and J eight front office to Vice Admiral Box cell. They will also be presenting a gift from the box all family. J. S. J. Eight Front office come forward. Yeah, guests please stand for the benediction and remain standing for the conclusion of the ceremony and the departure of the official party. Let us pray Almighty God, we thank you for the Naval Service of buy several boxes all and all those whose lives are closely linked with his particularly Wendy bailey and Connor. We pray your continued blessings on them during this next phase of their life. May your presence be with them as they choose new paths and explore new horizons. May they be blessed with strong networks of friends and family to enjoy the journey that lies ahead. Keep them vigorous in body mind and spirit open new doors of service that they will satisfy their desire to give, and that will make a lasting difference in our world. May They find many receptive hearts and minds for the wisdom they have to offer, and many recipients to receive their love and care. Grantham Godspeed and open water. Amen. Following time honored tradition, Vice Admiral Box ill will now be piped ashore for the final time. Lieutenant Commander Written House will now recite the watch post the Side boys. Since the year 1984. This sailor, this shipmate, this Nittany Lion, Vice ammo Box cell has stood the watch while some of us were in our bunks at night on board. Uss, Kincaid, Uss Merle Uss, Ramage, uss Simpson, Uss way City, U. S. S. Lake, Erie, U. S. S. Kearny Uss, john c Stennis! This sailor stood the watch while some of us were in school learning our trade. This sailor stood the watch. Yes. Even before someone were born into this world. This sailor stood the watch. In those years when the storm clouds of war brewing on the horizon of history. This sailor stood the watch many times. He cast an eye ashore and see his family standing there needing his guidance, needing his help, needing his hand to hold during those hard times. But he still stood the watch. He stood the watch for 38 years. He stood the watch so that we, our families, our fellow countrymen and women could sleep soundly and safety each and every night knowing a sailor stood the watch today, we’re here to say Admiral. You stand relieved, relieved by those that you’ve trained, guided and led. Vice Emma. Ronald a box cell. You stand relieved. We have the watch, sir. Right, yeah. Vice Admiral, United States Navy. Retired departing box. All family departing reach black, maybe family hip, hip. Mhm. Retire the side boys. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our ceremony. Thank you for attending. Please join the boxing family at the reception located in the Patent Hall Officers Club. But. Mhm. Right. And. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Right. Mhm. Mhm.

Share with Friends:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.