Stavradis and Me: Who'da Thunk It?

www.msnbc.com/msnbc/transcript-james-stavridis

Photo is from a 1975 Navy Recruiting Sign, which I Proudly Own

You might not think the two men in the photo have much in common, except serving in the Navy at the same time in the 1970's. The same could be said for Admiral Stavradis and me; until you dig a little deeper. The similarities are striking, and the divergences quite striking as well. You can read the transcript linked to above and decide for yourself. Afterwards, you should ask yourself some hard questions. I have.

We both joined the Navy against our father's wishes. His father, a marine officer, got over it after he received his first star. My father, a Navy sailor, never got over it. He died before I received my commission via Officer Candidate School, almost ten years after I joined the Navy in 1975. Back then, I looked a lot like the sailor in the photo above.

We both are ethnic minorities who hail from Florida. He surely knows about Tarpon Springs, the segregated Greek fishing village from which I entered the Navy. He is proud of his Greek heritage, and I am proud of mine. Both of us had pride in heritage instilled in us by our fathers, whom we both admire greatly.

We both have written books in which we state that former CNO Elmo "Bud" Zumwalt is the former sailor we most admire, and both of us give a shout out to his minority assistant, Lieutenant Commander William S. Norman. I happen to think that Norman's contributions to our country are deserving of having a ship named after him. It should be a scrappy fighting ship, willing to take on the big boys, as did the ship that sank in battle under Commander Ernest Evans, a Cherokee warrior who served during WWII.

Both of us have read widely, he more than I, I am sure, but I believe our interest in good leadership are defining factors in our reading. I have read about all the admirals he writes about in his book Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character. Zumwalt is hands-down my favorite. We both revisit Zumwalt's On Watch with some regularity. We both have read his biography by Larry Berman. I highly recommend all three.

We both served in Mayport Florida in 1980. He was the boilers officer in the USS Forrestal (CN-59) and I was an Equal Opportunity Program Specialist at the Readiness Support Group in Mayport. We both remember our assignments as brutal, demanding, and largely unrewarded, in the least glamorous part of the commands. He found his division "...rife with racial tensions...disciplinary violations, and a pirate spirit that 'anything goes,'" Both of felt unprepared for our assignments. During mine, I was sometimes the disciplinary violation, and the pirate spirit included efforts to end my career by my superiors. I had to use unorthodox methods to survive. His savior was a black newly promoted chief petty officer named Clevon Jones. Mine was a newly promoted white master chief petty officer named Daniel Ziparo. I am in contact with him to this day, and I thank him again from saving me from certain doom and supporting me in my efforts to become a officer, to the consternation of many of those around him. Notice the cross-racial support that our situations had in common, please.

Both of us have written that the Navy still has a long way to go regarding the way it treats minorities and women, and I am still writing about it. I purposefully chose the title Black Officer, White Navy for my book, in direct response to the book Black Sailor, White Navy, by Dr. John Sherwood. He seemed to challenge the perception that discrimination really existed in sufficient quantity against black sailors, often mentioning "perceived discrimination" throughout the book. I tried to show what one career would or could look like. Mine was the one I knew best. I thought the story needed to be told from the perspective of a black sailor (my father was one) and a black officer (yours truly). I have found that this perspective was not welcomed by the Navy, but that's a story for another day. The Navy has actively worked to make sure no sailors or officers read it. I'm trying to find out why, but no one will talk to me. Isn't that interesting?

I am 6'1" tall, dark, with a full head of hair (still) and a nearly white beard. Stavradis is..., well, the similarities have to end somewhere. Beyond looks and stature, he went on to a distinguished post-Navy career of writing books, leading people, appearing on radio and television, and occasionally posting stuff on LinkedIn that makes people lose their minds or enthusiastically agree with him. I clean up the carnage as best I can by simply asking questions of the mind losers and stating facts and opinions like everyone else. Mostly, the conversations are civil, as I prefer them. The name calling adds little to the discussion, but it is prevalent. Name calling adds little to mutual respect and understanding. Note to the President: Name calling doesn't make you look strong; exactly the opposite. This means you too, in case you are also an offender.

I had no post-Navy career. I never once applied for a job after I retired. In my last few years of service, I helped save the Navy hundreds of thousands of dollars by doing what Zumwalt did - challenging the status quo and asking hard questions, sometimes at my peril. I left twenty-two years of benefits from the Veterans Administration, hundreds of thousands of dollars, on the table for service-connected disabilities, because I was internally trying to reconcile the difference between stated policy and reality in the Navy I loved. I finally reached out for help, and I received it. I'm expecting to get my first benefits check any day now. I have written extensively about what happened, but not how it affected me. I am working hard to sound the alarm about what is happening in the military right now about the treatment of minorities and women. Rather that simply recognizing the problem (which I have seen before), I am trying to do something about it. At a recent subcommittee hearing conducted by Congresswoman Jackie Speier, several other minority and women veterans raised similar concerns. I doubt you've seen the video. I have. The contrast between the flag officers and the veterans is shocking. I've seen this movie before.

One way I am trying to do something is by obtaining the statistics of racial discrimination complaints in the military from 2000-2019. I want to see how things have progressed since my retirement in 1997. So far, they are refusing, without justification or explanation, to provide me with those statistics. I think it is because I used some of those statistics in my book. An official with the Navy provided me partial Navy statistics a year ago, after telling me that "the numbers are not good." I don't believe that is a sufficient reason to keep them from me, or anyone else. Quite the opposite. In this climate, these numbers may be the canary in the coal mine. If I had a family member currently serving, I would want to know the likelihood of success if they followed the proper procedures for filing a complaint.

As bad as it might be now, it was much worse in my day. In 1989, while I was the chief engineer on a frigate patrolling the Persian Gulf, a few months after the USS Stark was hit by two Iraqi missiles, I experience racial strife and discrimination to the tune of about one incident every three weeks. I was the only minority officer on the ship, and we had only one Black chief in the chief's mess. My experience was not unique for minority officers. I want you to chew on this number: 156. That is the number of racial discrimination complaints filed in the Navy in 1989. Now I want you to swallow this number: 0. Zero is not an easy number to swallow when you understand that it is the number of complaints substantiated in 1989. It defies logic. I have a lot more numbers in my book. Tailhook '91 changed things dramatically, for a while. The 1989 statistics are an example is why I am trying to obtain the most current numbers.

The current situation closely resembles the late 1980's, in my opinion. Many conditions are similar. Look it up if you don't remember or weren't born. I stated in the beginning of my book that I was worried about what I was seeing and hearing from high levels of our government. I am even more worried now. This turmoil is affecting our military, and they know it. First term retention of minorities is down, I'm told. Large percentages of minorities believe white nationalism is a problem in the services now. Headlines bear them out. A snapshot which might speak volumes is the discrimination statistics. They could provide me with them in less time that it takes you to read this article. Instead, they have been silent for more than thirteen months.

In honor of the Martin Luther King Holiday, why don't you ask for them? I've asked politicians, service organizations, reporters, all the military newspapers, retired senior officers, and current officials, military and civilian, for help with this. Perhaps if more people are interested, they might be forthcoming. Prevention is worth a pound of cure. I would love to find out that I've been worrying for nothing. Unfortunately, I won't know until I know. If you know anyone you think can help, pass this along to them. Knowledge is power. Share this article with any military members or retirees/veterans you know.

One more thing you should know about Admiral Stavradis: He knows who I am. Unlike many of the former and current senior navy and civilian officials, and some of the former sailors and officers with whom I served, he is not afraid to let people know that he knows who I am. That means a lot to me. It says a lot about his character.