Rear Admiral [Ret.] Jim Carey is Chairman of the NATIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEE and NATIONAL DEFENSE PAC. His background includes duty in cruisers and amphibs, at Naval Beach Group, and in the Pentagon, and naval service from Seaman Recruit to Rear Admiral. He also served in the Reagan and George Bush Sr. Administrations. Further details at The National Defense Committee and The National Defense Political Action Committee.
Discussion
Board
Have an opinion on this article? Sound off. Legislative
Center - Read about the latest bills
affecting servicemembers and veterans, and
write directly to your Congressman.
"The Gipper" left the playing field of life yesterday. May GOD rest his soul forever.
I had the distinct honor and privilege of working for Ronald Reagan during his tenure as President. No, I wasn't in his cabinet, but served for almost his entire administration as a twice Senate-confirmed Presidential Appointee, first as a Commissioner and later Vice Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission, the regulatory body for America's ocean commerce. So while I wasn't personally present in his Cabinet meetings, I did have the advantage of being a senior Member of his Administration and was a part of those exciting days in Washington when this magnificent leader took the helm of the nation and our armed forces and began an 8 year whirlwind that changed not only our country, but the entire world. In my view, in those 8 years he brought freedom to so very many millions, an achievement that has already outlasted his time on earth.
I was fortunate to have worked with the White House in forming an organization within the Administration in 1983 called the Reagan Administration Executive Level Presidential Appointees, surely an overly-long title but purposely so as to accurately identify it as those Presidential Appointees who had survived the Senate confirmation process which the term "Executive Level" implies. Thus the organization included everyone in the Reagan Administration from the President's Cabinet down to all the Assistant Secretaries and Commissioners. The purpose of this uniquely Reagan group was to ensure that the new leadership that had come to the federal government with Ronald Reagan met regularly and rather than immerse themselves in total tunnel vision limited only to their individual federal agencies, would also get to know each other personally, share lessons learned and battles fought and won, and just like our nation's armed forces, learn from those experiences and bring what worked to the benefit of the nation and the taxpayers through increased efficiency and productivity and shared successes at every level of government. I was the elected President of this organization for 6 years and as such, saw and was involved in a great number of issues and matters that I otherwise would not have been had I limited my efforts to just my work at the Federal Maritime Commission. Through this unique organization, I got to see much of the broad brush of what Ronald Reagan was accomplishing AT ALL LEVELS and AT EVERY AGENCY over the next 6 years, accomplished in large part because President Reagan brought some incredible new leadership talent to our federal government that changed the face of our nation, greatly for the better in my view, and for many generations to come.
While I'm sure the next days and months will be filled with many MANY tributes to this great communicator and eternal optimist, and I'm certain they will speak of his incredible ability to communicate past a cynical press direct to the man and woman on the street, I'd like to reflect more about his military service and his military accomplishments -- his tremendous rebuilding of America's national defense and armed forces, and his great linkage to our troops, from the most senior Admirals and Generals to the most junior Private and Seaman. Ronald Reagan understood military service and the honor of wearing the uniform of our nation's armed forces, just as he also uniquely understood service with honor. He brought strength of character to the role of Commander in Chief that in part he learned from his days in the U. S. Army during World War II, and 35 years later he was to bring a new pride of service in our armed forces that I personally experienced, and believe me, the difference from service during the Vietnam War and service during the Reagan years and how those who wore the uniform were treated by our nation was absolutely "night and day".
Some particular Reagan military memories that come to mind are very uniquely Ronald Reagan -- full of pride and professionalism and a unique warm and friendly optimism that seemed to drive the media into a frenzy. And the more they would try to denigrate his abilities or infer that he was "a cowboy out of his league", the more he would simply move deliberately and optimistically forward to achieve major accomplishments that truly and literally changed the world, brought an end to the cold war, and did more for peace in the world than anyone since our greatest generation that saved the entire free world by winning World War II.
Just a few of those memories:
Ronald Reagan achieved the greatest rebuilding of our nation's armed forces in our history. But accompanying this was a rebirth of pride in military service -- not just by those of us who had or were serving, but by how that service was viewed and treated by the American public. I personally watched those attitudes change almost overnight, where veterans once again began wearing their medals to remembrances and formal social functions and were treated with a new dignity and respect that I hadn't seen in the previous 2 decades.
When President Reagan disembarked from Air Force One or Marine Helo One and he returned the salutes of the military personnel stationed at the foot of the departure ladder, you knew in an instant that he had served in America's military. Quite simply, Ronald Reagan knew how to render a military salute. And since we all saw those salutes on TV everywhere he went, there was an immediate bonding among the military "band of brothers" as every military veteran and every man and woman in uniform said to themselves "he's one of us -- he's REALLY one of us". Some may view this as a trivial matter, but trust me, I watched it as a phenomenon that truly happened and the signal it sent throughout the military and veteran's communities was HUGE.
While as I write this, this great man has been dead less than 12 hours, yet some of the media are already scrolling across the bottom of the TV screen that he "never fired a shot in World War II" and "made movies during the war", all negative images which anyone with knowledge of his military service MUST question. The truth in all this is that Ronald Reagan served in the Army Reserve [Calvary] well before World War II, volunteered for duty with combat units when the war started but was turned down because of uncorrectable eyesight problems, and still served from 1942 - 1945 -- and yes, it was making training films for the Army, but only because his eyesight prevented him from being in combat. That's where the Army ordered him to serve and like all of us, he went where he was ordered and did what he was told to do.
Truly one amazing military feat that President Reagan DID ACHIEVE, also without firing a shot, was that he won the cold war for our nation. No bumbling cowboy or actor in this effort, he literally out-strategized and out-negotiated and out-maneuvered the communist world with tens of thousands of nuclear weapons at their call and truly saved the lives of not only millions of American men and women in the military, but tens of millions in other nations, both military and noncombatants, who surely would have perished had our nations ever gone to war. What an absolutely incredible accomplishment by this remarkable man. Our Grandchildren's Grandchildren owe him eternal gratitude into perpetuity for this.
Being the oldest serving President in our nation's history, I'll never forget the news media talking heads asking the questions at one of the Presidential debates, doing all they could to stump him and make him appear bumbling and ageing and unfit to lead the nation. One particular question, bluntly inferring that his age made him unfit to serve, was handled so brilliantly that it put the question to rest for good -- his words were to the effect that "No, he wasn't going to use his age to take any unfair political advantage over his opponents obvious youth and inexperience." It brought the house down and to this day I'm still not sure whether the cheering and applause was for his great humor and obvious mental agility, or for the sheepish and embarrassed look on the face of the arrogant reporter seeking to make his journalist reputation by asking the question. But truly "the people" loved this man.
Ronald Reagan had a great loyalty to his friends and allies. He didn't forget them, and I've always felt this had much to do with the fellowship and comradery of his military service. I remember particularly that during his college days, he was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. I had occasion in recent years to meet some members of his fraternity leadership who were serving while Reagan was President and they told me how great he was in remembering them, how he attended their convention and enthusiastically spoke so patriotically and optimistically to the young men there. Truly Ronald Reagan believed in loyalty and friendship to "his band of brothers", be they from his military service, or his college days, or his union leadership and acting days, or during his political career serving 8 years as Governor of California and 8 years as President of the United States.
Our nation will spend the next several days bidding farewell to this unique American. A Mid-Western lad who personified life in our country; a life guard and football player, college student and sports announcer, union leader and movie star, Army Veteran and patriot, loving father and caring husband, a spiritual man of private faith and personal honor, two-term Governor of the largest State in our Union, two-term President of the United States and Commander in Chief of our armed forces, and winner of the cold war that could have killed us all.
Ronald Reagan gave back to America much MUCH MORE than he took from America. And what he did for our armed forces and the men and women in uniform will have its impact for a hundred years.
Thank you, President Reagan, for all you did for all of us.
Ours is a better nation because you were our leader, ours is a better world because you served your country both in uniform and in elected office, and ours is a better planet because of the time you spent here with us.
