CALMING FORCE
BUCK DEPARTS AFTER SUCCESSFULLY NAVIGATING UNPRECEDENTED TIMES AS SUPE
Vice Admiral Sean S. Buck ’83, USN, will conclude his Navy career at the same place it began although his perception of the Naval Academy is fundamentally changed after four years as Superintendent.
On 7 July, Buck will relinquish command as Superintendent on the Yard. Rear Admiral Yvette M. Davids ’89, USN, has been nominated to succeed Buck. She was awaiting U.S. Senate confirmation at press time. Buck was sworn in as a plebe on 7 July 1979.
“I’m bookending my 44 years with four years upfront as a mid and four years at the end as the Superintendent,” Buck said. “I have a very different perspective. The perspective of a midshipman is very different than the perspective of a Superintendent.
“Maybe, the joy of the Naval Academy when you are a midshipman is getting off the Yard and going to do your summer training, going on leave, spending time outside the walls because while you’re a midshipmen, it’s tough. It’s a grind. There are high expectations on you. I can tell you as an adult, as Supe, looking back on it. This place is joyful when midshipmen are here.”
Buck’s tenure as Superintendent began with the anticipated high-octane pace during the fall of 2019. Just as he was settling in for the spring semester, the Academy was rocked by two midshipmen deaths in February 2020. A few weeks later, Buck faced the uncertainty of unprecedented challenges with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
By adapting and innovating, Buck’s leadership team succeeded in graduating and commissioning the Classes of 2020 and 2021 on time.
Prior to returning to the Academy, the former naval flight officer served as commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet. Buck was commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Force with U.S. 5th and 7th Fleets, Fleet Air Forward, Patrol and Reconnaissance Group; chief of staff, Strategy, Plans and Policy (J5), the Joint Staff; and director, 21st Century Sailor Office.
He spoke with Shipmate about his time as Superintendent, his advice for future Supes and what’s next for him and his wife Joanne.
Shipmate: Your term as Superintendent will forever be linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. What did it take to get through that challenge?
VADM Buck: My first six months was like a honeymoon. Joanne and I embraced (the busy schedule). We jumped into the deep end full force.
The bottom fell out in February 2020. It wasn’t the onset of the pandemic, it was the loss of two midshipmen—Midshipman Duke Corrillo ’22 and Midshipman David Forney ’20. That was devastating. Joanne and I consider all these men and women at the Academy our sons and daughters. I feel I have a responsibility to their parents to look after them and care for them like a parent.
Just a few days after we buried David, the Brigade went on spring break. We all knew we needed a break. Joanne and I headed off the Yard to a place we enjoy for our privacy, time to think, time to heal and to grieve.
Right in the middle of our spring break, this thing called Coronavirus hit us. That changed the world. It changed our trajectory at the Naval Academy. It completely caused me to reset my strategic priorities for the Naval Academy.
I initially came in, I listened and learned. After about 100 days here, I developed my four strategic priorities that I would intend to focus on during my four-year journey here. Those were flipped on their head. I had to rewicker and rethink what my strategic priorities would be to run the Naval Academy to keep it the premier officer accession source for the Navy and Marine Corps.
I came up with new strategic priorities. They turned out to be tactical priorities. They are the here and now. What do we need to do at this very moment to stay open, stay safe and keep all of us healthy but continue down the road of educating, graduating and commissioning? It was a huge change.
We lived with those strategic priorities for about a year and a half.
Shipmate: What was it like dealing with the uncertainty of the situation?
VADM Buck: There was no playbook. As us aviators like to say, ‘we were building it as we were flying it.’ I was hellbent that we were not going to close because the American public never expects its military to take a knee to any adversary.
I needed to have a little bit of decision space. I thought I needed two or three weeks to sort it out. We made a decision right away to notify every midshipman—who were spread out all over the world on their spring break—to not come back to Annapolis.
The Naval Academy had never taught a single thing online. There was no virtual environment here, no virtual processes, and I could not be more proud or impressed with the Naval Academy faculty—who on a dime, in five days—went from 0 to 60 and developed an online, virtual learning environment so as soon as the midshipmen were done with their spring break, we didn’t miss a beat.
You don’t develop leaders online. We could not shift that to a virtual environment. They need to have a hands-on environment, a leadership laboratory. They needed to be present, so they have opportunities to lead—succeed or fail, debrief it and get back into the ring to try again.
Likewise, the faculty, staff and coaches—those of us that develop professional competence and their character—we, too, needed to be present. I’m very proud of the team to be able to make that switch as quickly as they did because the goal was still to commission and graduate the Class of 2020 on time at the end of May. That happened.
Shipmate: What lessons did you learn as Superintendent that might benefit your successors?
VADM Buck: The philosophical difference, the transformation the Naval Academy has gone through since I graduated in the 1980s. The change is from what we call an “attrition” model to a developmental model. That was lost on me. I didn’t know we had changed during the 35 years I was out in the fleet.
If you go back and look at the attrition rate of the classes in the 40s, 50, 60s, 70s and even the 80s, classes had 25-35 percent attrition.
If a midshipmen got cross threaded with academic adversity or conduct problems or honor problems, they were more likely to be separated from the Naval Academy then retained. There came to be a realization that that’s not a good return on our investment. It’s a leadership laboratory.
These young men and women—predominantly 18-22 years old—are going to make mistakes. There should be some sort of time to develop them into the leaders of character we expect them to be after four years.
My ‘aha’ moment was when I put my father hat on. As my wife and I went through our journey of raising our two young adults through the junior high, high school and college years … when they made mistakes, neither my wife nor I ever kicked them out of the house.
So, why is this any different? The family is just bigger.
The midshipmen make some of the same types of mistakes young kids do and now we have a developmental model.
We know we’re in the business of developing. It doesn’t happen overnight. It happens over four years for some kids.
There is more of a second chance here. It depends on the egregiousness of your conduct or honor violation. For the most part, if it’s your first mistake in life and it’s not criminal, you’re probably going to get a second chance. You’ll be remediated and given an opportunity to grow. I, for sure, need my successors to know that’s how we do business here.
The Academy’s attrition rate is about 10 percent. We enjoy one of the nation’s highest graduation rates.
The accusation might come out that this place is easier now. No, it’s not. It’s probably harder. We enjoy such a high graduation rate because of the generosity and philanthropy of so many people that now allows us to give resources to the midshipmen to help them. Resources that didn’t exist in decades past. If you ask for help, you will receive help. We want you to graduate, we want you to commission and we’re going to give you a chance.
Shipmate: The opportunities available to the Brigade of Midshipmen are unparalleled in terms of experiential leadership development, cutting-edge technology such as the cyber resources in Hopper Hall and access to world-class lecturers. How important was elevating those opportunities for the Brigade?
VADM Buck: They are truly unparalleled. We are in a competition for talent. We still enjoy the ability to go find and encourage the finest young men and women to serve their country by coming to the Naval Academy to earn their commission and earn their degree.
We need to continue to advertise ourselves as such as an institution that will have the ability to do that. We enjoy a four-year graduation rate. That’s something that hardly any school has now. Many institutions of higher education advertise a five-year or six-year graduation rate. We do it in four years. It’s hard and we have the resources to help you and we need those to persist.
Shipmate: The Class of 1983 is responsible for giving Central America’s bell a home on the Yard alongside the Herndon Monument. What does being part of that legacy mean to you?
VADM Buck: I am very, very proud of my class. I’m very grateful for the support and love I’ve received from all of them. They rallied around me in trying times. They came and celebrated with me and Joanne during good times.
The bell was donated by Dwight Manley and part of the historic Yard. It has a wonderful plaque associated with it that tells anyone who pauses to read it who Commander Bill Herndon was and what he stood for. They now can have a better understanding of why we—midshipmen and alumni—climb Herndon.
Shipmate: What’s next for you and Joanne?
VADM Buck: We have fallen in love with Annapolis. We’ve made many great friends. We love every single aspect of Naval Academy life.
We’re excited to learn more about Historic Annapolis that we haven’t necessarily had time to do so. We’ve bought a house in the local area. We’re also looking to transition to the state of Florida. We’ll probably have a footprint in both places. We have children in both.
It’s safe to say the Naval Academy family and Annapolis family will see Joanne and Sean Buck here for years to come.