Jeremy Michael Boorda

Jeremy Michael Boorda (November 26, 1939 – May 16, 1996) was a United States Navy admiral who served as the 25th Chief of Naval Operations. Boorda is notable for being the first American sailor to have risen through the enlisted ranks to become the Chief of Naval Operations. Boorda died in 1996, of an apparent suicide.

Early life and education
Boorda was born in South Bend, Indiana to Gertrude and Herman Boorda into a Jewish family. His family moved to Momence, Illinois, where his father had a dress shop. His grandparents had immigrated from Ukraine.

Boorda dropped out of high school to enlist in the United States Navy in 1956 at the age of 17; it provided a structure he at first disliked but came to use. He attained the rate of Personnelman First Class. Boorda served a variety of commands, primarily in aviation. His last two enlisted assignments were in Attack Squadron 144 and Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 11.

Marriage and family
When he was nineteen, Boorda married Bettie Moran. Their first son David was born with severe disabilities. They had two more sons, Edward and Robert, and a daughter named Anna.

Naval career
Boorda was selected for potential commissioning under the Integration Program in 1962, by which non-commissioned men were admitted to the Navy's Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. After graduating, Boorda was commissioned as an officer in August 1962. He first served aboard USS Porterfield (DD-682) as combat information center officer at the rank of lieutenant junior grade. After attending Naval Destroyer School in Newport, in 1964 was assigned as weapons officer, USS John R. Craig (DD-885). His second tour off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnam War was as commanding officer, USS Parrot (MSC-197).

Boorda's first shore tour was as a weapons instructor at Naval Destroyer School in Newport. In 1971, after attending the U.S. Naval War College and also earning a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Rhode Island, he assumed duties as Executive Officer, USS Brooke (DEG-1). That tour was followed by a short period at the University of Oklahoma and an assignment as head, surface lieutenant commander assignments/assistant for captain detailing in the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Washington, D.C..

From 1975 to 1977, Boorda commanded USS Farragut (DDG-37). He was next assigned as executive assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs), Washington, DC. He relieved the civilian presidential appointee in that position, remaining until 1981, when he took command of Destroyer Squadron Twenty-Two.

In 1983 and 1984, he served as executive assistant to the Chief of Naval Personnel/Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Manpower, Personnel and Training. In December 1984, he assumed his first flag officer assignment as executive assistant to the chief of naval operations, remaining until July 1986. His next assignment was commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Group Eight in Norfolk, Virginia; he served as a carrier battle group commander embarked in USS Saratoga (CV-60), and also as commander, Battle Force Sixth Fleet in 1987.

In August 1988, Boorda became Chief of Naval Personnel/Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Manpower, Personnel and Training. In November 1991, he received his fourth star and in December 1991, became Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH - Naples, Italy) and Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe (CINCUSNAVEUR - London). As CINCSOUTH, Boorda was in command of all NATO forces engaged in operations enforcing United Nations sanctions during the Yugoslav wars.

On February 1, 1993, while serving as Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe, Boorda assumed the additional duty as Commander, Joint Task Force Provide Promise, responsible for the supply of humanitarian relief to Bosnia-Herzegovina via air-land and air-drop missions, and for troops contributing to the UN mission throughout the Balkans.

On April 23, 1994, Boorda became the 25th Chief of Naval Operations and was the first who was not a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and was the first Chief of Naval Operations of Jewish descent.

Seaman to Admiral
Boorda was a product of an enlisted-to-officer commissioning program in the early 1960s. This program known as the Integration Program was designed to provide an opportunity for enlisted personnel who possessed outstanding qualifications and motivation for a naval career to obtain a commission. Boorda was the first Chief of Naval Operations to have risen from the enlisted rates, one of only three such modern service chiefs (the others being Air Force General Larry D. Welch and Army General John Shalikashvili). Upon assuming this position, Boorda immediately re-established the historic program, naming it "Seaman to Admiral", as part of a STA-21 initiative for young sailors to earn their commission and become naval officers. Boorda believed that "people should have the opportunity to excel, and be all they can be, even if they don't get a perfect or traditional start."

C4I
Boorda was particularly interested in C4I initiatives to place command and control, communications, computers and intelligence assets on naval ships. Essentially this manifested itself as more robust combat information systems, with improved satellite and communication links, as well as place more defensive assets on traditionally non-combatant ships such as support vessels. Boorda initiated efforts during the proposal phase for the future LPD-17 amphibious class to be fitted with first-class C4I suites, radars, communications, and defense systems-anti-torpedo, anti-missile, and anti-NBC (nuclear, biological, and chemical) -along with blast-hardened bulkheads that will absorb and dissipate much more punishment than is possible with present designs. This effort was a departure from past efforts which relied on simply assigning a destroyer or cruiser to provide these functions for amphibious forces. The ship was commissioned Jan 14, 2006, nine years after Boorda's death.

Enlisted advancement system
Boorda also spearheaded efforts to change the U.S. Navy's officer fitness report, enlisted evaluation and enlisted advancement systems. The new systems were more systematic and consistent. The systems also allowed a more concise rating of an officer's or sailor's advancement potential. This rating allowed a command to mark only 20% of officers or sailors as "early promotes", and set strict grading criteria for each evaluatory mark. The new system also linked each promotion marking to the advancement system.

Littoral oceanography
Boorda signed a policy for naval oceanography (the first such revision in 10 years), which emphasized, among other things, that, in addition to deep-water missions, naval oceanographers must master the complicated tangle of the oceanographic/geographic subject areas that make up the science of the littorals, or near-shore areas: tidal pulses, beach profiles, reefs, bars, shallows, shoals, channels, sediment transport, fine-scale hydrography, turbidity, land cover and terrain, dust, traffic, rain rates, river runoff, sub-bottom characteristics, and biologics, as well as the complex weather patterns characteristic of any coastal area. Boorda's vision brought the Navy's new focus on littoral operations into alignment with naval projection policies. But this new program also created a large backlog of high priority oceanographic, hydrographic, and geophysical survey requirements. To meet those requirements, the Navy expanded its oceanographic efforts from traditional platforms (ships, boats, planes) to new technologies (satellites, remote sensors, etc.), and efforts to work with other national and international agencies.

Stan Arthur incident
In the wake of the Tailhook scandal, Boorda faced unrelenting hostility from a majority of Naval flag officers who believed he had betrayed the Navy by allying himself with Clinton administration demands for reform of the Navy's officer corps. Naval aviators, in particular, were incensed by the treatment of Stan Arthur (Vice Chief of Naval Operations and senior Naval aviator), whose nomination for the post of Commander, United States Pacific Command was withdrawn by President Clinton at the behest of Senator David Durenberger of Minnesota. Durenberger raised questions over Arthur's possible mishandling of sexual harassment allegations brought by one of the Senator's constituents, Rebecca Hansen, a female student Naval aviator who was attrited from flight training.

The administration expected protracted hearings to ensue over Arthur's nomination, and the Pacific Command position to remain unfilled during this period; Arthur decided to retire from the Navy on February 1, 1995 as a four-star admiral. Boorda issued an unusual public defense of Arthur and his decision not to fight for the nomination, saying
 * Stan Arthur is an officer of integrity ... who chose to take this selfless action ... in the interests of more rapidly filling a critical leadership position. Those who postulate other reasons for the withdrawal are simply wrong.

Awards and decorations

 * Defense Distinguished Service Medal
 * Navy Distinguished Service Medal with two 5/16 inch stars
 * Legion of Merit with two 5/16 inch stars
 * Meritorious Service Medal with 5/16 inch star
 * Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal
 * Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal
 * Combat Action Ribbon
 * Good Conduct Medal with 5/16 inch star
 * National Defense Service Medal
 * Vietnam Service Medal
 * Vietnam Campaign Medal

Death
Boorda died on May 16, 1996 from an apparent suicide, after allegedly shooting himself in the chest. The autopsy results were never released to the public. Boorda reportedly also left two suicide notes; neither of which were released publicly, but the notes were said to have been addressed to his wife and to his Public Information Officer. He was reported to have been distraught over a news media investigation, led by David Hackworth of Newsweek, into two Combat Distinguishing Devices (Combat "V") he wore on the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal service ribbons on his navy uniform. The "V' device is a miniature bronze letter "V" worn on suspension and service ribbons of certain medals and ribbons, indicating valor in combat; the media report claimed that Boorda was not entitled to wear them.

Boorda was said to have been worried that the issue would cause more trouble for the U.S. Navy's reputation. Former CNO Elmo Zumwalt, who was Boorda's commander during the Vietnam War and who authorized these devices for Boorda and many others, wrote a letter to the effect that Boorda's wearing of the devices was "appropriate, justified and proper." However, wearing a Combat "V" on a decoration required written authorization for the device on the award citation which required personally receiving enemy fire in combat.



At the time of his death, Boorda was survived by his wife, Bettie Moran Boorda, four children, and 11 grandchildren. A public funeral was held at the Washington National Cathedral that was broadcast nationally in CNN with tape delay broadcast on C-Span network.

Review
In 1998, one of Boorda's sons requested a review of his service record. The Board for Correction of Naval Records, the ultimate arbiter of whether or not Boorda was entitled to wear the Combat "V" on both medals, determined that he was not.

Legacy
Boorda has two sons and one daughter-in-law who are naval officers. He has three grandsons who served in the U.S. military; Peter Boorda was a Petty Officer in the United States Coast Guard, Andrew Boorda is an armor officer in the U.S. Army, and Phillip Boorda is an amphibious assault vehicle officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. Andrew and Phillip are twins, and like their grandfather, both graduated from the University of Rhode Island. In addition, Boorda has a step-grandson who also graduated from the University of Rhode Island and is a Field Artillery officer in the U.S. Army.

Boorda was born into a Jewish family, but did not practice Judaism, nor did he assert a Jewish identity while serving in the U.S. Navy. After marrying a Christian woman, Boorda and his wife raised their children as Protestants. Boorda was buried with a tombstone marked with the Star of David as is customary for U.S. military personnel who were known to be Jewish.