I graduated from the Coast Guard Academy (CGA) in the lower half of my class. I didn’t light it up academically, I am not much of an athlete, but I had decent military scores. Bottom line, I was an unexceptional CGA cadet. I struck lightning (long story) for my first tour, serving in USCGC LAUREL, a buoy tender homeported in Mayport, Florida. It was a great ship, a phenomenal crew, an incredible operations area, and what a place to live as a 22-year-old Coast Guard ensign.
Much like CGA, my first tour was unremarkable. I was, at best, an average shipdriver (even that may be a stretch) and performed administrative functions at an acceptable level. I was headed toward a banal Coast Guard career until about a year into my assignment. Within six months of reporting aboard LAUREL, we had a new commanding officer (CO) and executive officer (XO) who would each positively impact me for the rest of my career. Junior officers received an evaluation twice a year, and it was my first full review with the new command structure. In the CO’s summary section, he wrote, “Personable and outgoing, I believe his strongest talents to be his emerging leadership qualities.” That may not seem like much, but I needed the spark. It was the shot of confidence I needed to start to lean into the Coast Guard.
My CO, LCDR Lee Romasco, had previously been the school chief at the Coast Guard’s Leadership and Management School (LAMS), I think his comment carried some weight. I didn’t become a 4.0 sailor immediately, but I am convinced that comment pushed me forward. That push was enough, so I got selected to serve as XO of a patrol boat for my second tour. For my third tour, I was an instructor at LAMS, and after that, I commanded my own patrol boat. Finally, despite a poor academic record at CGA, I was selected to attend graduate school to get a master’s degree in Leadership Studies.
My career would have unfolded differently if not for that short sentence. Leadership is a wide-ranging discipline; sometimes, it can take 30-plus years to understand those lessons. Small things matter, and sometimes (most of the time), you may not even realize the impact you have. A small course correction by a couple of degrees can alter your final destination by hundreds of miles. I owe a debt of gratitude to LCDR Romasco and LT Fred White for helping me navigate some difficult times later in life. Those opportunities I had the ten years after LAUREL, imparted invaluable lessons that helped to move my life forward through that challenging chapter.
