In his excellent tribute to Admiral Arleigh Burke in the February 1996 Proceedings, historian David Rosenberg mentioned a Burke concept that has never been fully implemented. He cited Burke as believing that “by the time a man makes flag officer, he should lose his designation, no matter what it is, submarines, aviation, or anything else, and become a flag officer in the broadest sense of the term—one who can command forces.” Flag officers command forces composed of units of varying capabilities, but the actual loss of designation has not transpired. With all of the emphasis today on joint and combined military operations, maybe the time has come for the implementation of Burke’s idea.
Others have concurred with the admiral’s concept. For example, when Admiral Elmo “Bud” Zumwalt became Chief of Naval Operations in 1970, one of his first initiatives was the preparation of a directive requiring all flag officers to remove from their uniforms their service-specialty insignia, i.e., wings for aviators and dolphins for submariners. He was talked out of the action by the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, a submarine officer. Instead, a surface warfare insignia was created.
Given that flag officers were not going to remove even the symbols of their warfare designations, the creation of the surface warfare insignia seemed perfectly logical. Like all warfare communities, surface warriors take great pride in the forces to which they devote a large part of their service lives. But adding another symbolic device and warfare designator may have added to the divisiveness that Burke abhorred.
There were at least two flag officers who agreed with Admiral Zumwalt’s desire to implement the Burke concept. At that time, Vice Admiral Edwin “Ebbie” Bell and I were being promoted to three-star rank for duties as Commander, Amphibious Force Atlantic, and Commander, U.S. Second Fleet, respectively. Earlier in our careers we both had served as executive assistants to the Vice Chief of Naval Operations. In that assignment, one gets an opportunity to witness many things, including the despicable aspects of both intra- and interservice rivalries. The tendency of some flag officers to subordinate the broader needs of the Navy to the needs of their particular warfare specialties does not add to the luster of the naval profession any more than the parochial fights among the services for roles, missions, and dollars aid the larger defense establishment.
Knowing of Burke’s idea and Zumwalt’s abandoned efforts. Vice Admiral Bell and I decided to test the concept ourselves. Bell went to command the amphibious forces in the Atlantic Fleet. He removed his dolphins from his uniform except when attending affairs exclusive to the submarine community. I removed my wings—and did not put them on for any occasion—for one full year. I attended meetings with central and northern NATO nations, flew my flag in a British carrier, hosted innumerable professional events, appeared on commercial television in uniform, and did all of the things one does as a commander of a numbered fleet. In addition, I never wore a ribbon, medal, or decorative award of any kind. In short, I was literally “clean breasted.”
During that test period, not a single comment was made to me regarding the absence of the wings or the ribbons. My duties, particularly those with NATO, were much broader than just naval aviation, as Ebbie Bell’s duties as Commander, Amphibious Force Atlantic, were far broader than submarine operations. We were flag officers, not a die-hard tailhooker and a proud pig-boat sailor.
But removing the specialty devices from the uniform, although only symbolic in nature, created some heartburn among other proud sailors. When I left Second Fleet to command Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, I received an emotional letter from a high-ranking leader in naval aviation, asking me to pin the wings on again. I realized that although no one had mentioned the issue to me, my “wingless” presence in high- visibility positions was causing some anguish. Such are the ways of man. So I acquiesced on the wearing of the wings.
As for the ribbons, I came to realize that if you have all that gold braid on the sleeves, there is no need to add more color to the chest. Further, if you don’t rate it for the chest, you probably don’t rate it for the sleeve. And wearing it all on one uniform coat seems to be overkill (and provides material for antimilitary cartoonists). It also seems counter to my mother’s counsel, “Son, as you go through life, try to be neat, not gaudy." So I changed to wearing three ribbons at the most, often mixing the combination and learning in the process that few, if any, can identify the various awards one accumulates as a natural by-product of many years of service.
With the natural emphasis and requirement for today’s military operations to be either combined or joint, it would seem that the time has come to implement at least part of the Burke concept. Flag officers should be broader than their designated warfare speciality. Shouldn’t the uniforms they wear reflect that broadness? Removing the warfare specialty device—wings, dolphins, surface warfare insignia, or whatever—seems like a minor action, but it could have a major psychological impact on helping commanders broaden their horizons.
We owe Admiral Burke a lot, but in this instance flag officers have an obligation, not to Burke, but to their profession—to broaden their perceived as well as their actual sphere of concern and influence.
Vice Admiral Gerald Miller, U.S. Navy (Retired), commanded Sixth Fleet from 1971 to 1973.