NEWPORT, R.I. –
United by their service as U.S. Navy submariners, four men spanning decades in age came together at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport on Nov. 13. The event they attended would forge even stronger bonds between them.
Spearheaded by Commanding Officer Capt. Kevin Behm and moderated by Deputy Technical Director Steve O’Grady, the command hosted “Passing the Watch: Submarine Generations” to celebrate veterans before an engaged audience in Chafee Auditorium.
Staged as a talk show with O’Grady serving as the host, the warfighters panel included Behm, retired Lt. Ronald Renner, retired Cmdr. David Kelly and active-duty Sailor Lt. Andrew Emge. The event featured compelling storytelling, plenty of laughter and a special presentation for the youngest member of the group.
Renner, a resident of Vancouver, Washington, joined the Navy in 1962 as a teenager from North Dakota and soon thereafter reported to the USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN 640), which was being constructed at Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut. During this time, he completed his certification to become a Navy diver and earned his silver “Dolphins” as an enlisted Sailor.
The warfare insignia, first proposed by Capt. Ernest J. King, a submarine commander, in 1923 and approved by the Navy in 1924, is worn on the uniform and identifies and distinguishes members of the submarine community. The design includes the bow of a submarine on the surface flanked by two dolphins that represent the high level of proficiency required in undersea warfare.
Renner earned his golden Dolphins after being commissioned as an officer in 1975, and the pair he wore were given to him by his commanding officer, who received them from his skipper during World War II.
So when Renner retired, he wanted to ensure the tradition continued and sought the right person to wear them. That person was Kelly, who was commissioned as an officer in 1998 on board the USS Tucson (SSN 770). The two first met when they were assigned to the USS Grayback (SSG 574), sparking a longtime mentorship and friendship.
“I got to wear the Dolphins that I used to watch him wear when he was driving the ship back in the 1980s, and I thought it was pretty special,” said Kelly, a resident of Kittery, Maine.
When Kelly retired in 2009 as the executive officer at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, he too sought a worthy recipient. At that time, the USS Oklahoma City (SSN 723) was in a maintenance period and the commanding officer of that submarine, Capt. Aaron Thieme, was Kelly’s old friend.
“I said, ‘Hey Aaron, do you have hot-running junior officer that I can give these Dolphins to?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I got a guy,’” Kelly said.
That someone in mind was none other than Behm, who was instructed to attend Kelly’s retirement ceremony despite the fact the two had never met previously.
“I was in the audience listening to David tell the story of these Dolphins that had been passed down since World War II, and the line was, ‘These Dolphins need to stay salty,’” Behm said.
With Renner watching from the audience, Kelly then surprised Behm by calling him on stage to pin the Dolphins on his white uniform. However, the passing of the keepsake came with some stipulations.
“I had to stay in contact with him to let him know how the Dolphins were faring, I had to continue to keep them dirty, and these weren’t my Dolphins,” Behm said. “I was simply the caretaker.”
When Behm left the USS Hartford and was assigned to lead NUWC Division Newport, he had conversation with Kelly about the future of the Dolphins.
“He said, ‘You know, Kevin, I’ve been talking to Ron and we think these Dolphins need to continue to stay salty. But you have to find someone to give these Dolphins to who is worthy,’” Behm said. “It did not take long for me to think of the right person.”
That person was seated at the other end of the stage: Lieutenant Emge.
“Andrew showed up on the USS Hartford, and he was super motivated,” Behm recalled.
Renner did the honors, pinning the Dolphins to Emge’s khaki uniform, while Tony Bruno, the longest-serving Division Newport employee at 57 years, recited an excerpt from the book “Clear the Bridge!: The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang,” written by the late Rear Adm. Richard O’Kane. The passage involves several officers sitting in the wardroom and discussing the day’s events and the most recent attack.
Emge, originally from Abingdon, Maryland, joined the Navy because he said it was a “family business,” with his father, mother and brother all serving before him. Now he is part of a smaller Navy family whose members have been charged with caring for a treasured pair of gold submarine force Dolphins.
“I feel the burden of wearing these, for sure. They sit heavy on my chest,” Emge said. “I was not expecting this at all, but I’m super pumped and ready to keep them salty.”
Cup O’ Joe
At the conclusion of the warfighters panel, Division Newport hosted its annual “Cup O’ Joe” event, which gives employees a chance to discuss their experiences in the military and swap stories over coffee.
Among the attendees were Susan Balcirak, head of the Signal Processing and Analysis Branch, and her husband Dean Balcirak, head of the Information Customer Services Branch. The North Kingstown, Rhode Island, couple met during their freshman year at the U.S. Naval Academy when they were paired together on a boat for the sailing team. Dean, who grew up in the Great Lakes region of Michigan and was recruited to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, was the skipper, while Susan served as crew.
Soon after graduating in 1998, they each ended up in San Diego, California, though on different assignments and deployments schedules. Around 2002, the Balciraks were transferred to Naval Station Newport for shore duty at the Surface Warfare Officers School, and this ended up being their last tour as they wanted to focus on starting a family.
When asked how he views his tenure in the Navy, Dean said: “It’s a call to service, to serve our military, to serve our constitution.” Susan echoed that sentiment but also pointed to “the bonds and friendships you make for life. It’s like a family forever where you can just connect.”
Jose Barbosa of Cranston, Rhode Island, head of the Electro-Optic Systems Branch, served 27 years in the Rhode Island Air National Guard. As a student at Cranston West High School in Rhode Island, he wanted to be a pilot but couldn’t afford the tuition for schooling.
“My guidance counselor said to join the Air Force, so I spoke to the recruiter, and they gave me an opportunity to be around planes,” Barbosa said. “I joined the military to get away from the neighborhood and start a new career. It was a way to experience new things and face new challenges.”
In 2009, his unit was deployed to Iraq, where his job involved combat communications.
“It was a good experience because prior to that, you’re always training, training, training, and never actually getting to do it when it mattered, or for a real reason,” Barbosa said. “For the military, we always train, and this was a chance to apply that training in a real-world situation.”
On Veterans Day, Barbosa doesn’t think much about his own service, but rather those who sacrificed something greater.
“I had it good,” he said. “When I think of Veterans Day, I think of the people who served in Vietnam and got hurt or went to Iraq and got hurt. For me, my sacrifice was my time. I came back healthy and functional, so I think about the folks who came back and weren’t all there, physically and mentally.”
Following in the footsteps of his father, Jim Miller, a resident of North Kingstown, who is a mission engineer in the Undersea Warfare Mission Engineering and Analysis Department, spent 20 years in the Navy after graduating from the Naval Academy in 2001. Most of that time was with the surface community, though he made tour stops in Guam, the Army’s Commander Staff College in Kansas and the Naval War College in Newport. No matter where he was stationed, Miller has fond memories.
“It was the cultures we experienced and the people we got to work with,” he said. “It was the other militaries and countries we worked with and seeing their mindset and what drove them. Then just the people on the ships and staff, the good, the bad and the ugly. There were so many different learning opportunities, what it meant to be a military professional, how to do things and how not to do things. I tried to take as many of those lessons as possible.”
NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869. Commanded by Capt. Kevin Behm, NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher's Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.