Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, who took command on Jan. 22, 2015 of Naval Air Forces and Naval Air Force Pacific, shakes hands with friends and fellow naval officers after his change of command ceremony, aboard the USS John C. Stennis at Naval Station North Island. (Jennifer Hlad/Stars and Stripes)
Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, who took command on Jan. 22, 2015 of Naval Air Forces and Naval Air Force Pacific, shakes hands with friends and fellow naval officers after his change of command ceremony, aboard the USS John C. Stennis at Naval Station North Island. (Jennifer Hlad/Stars and Stripes)
Lt. j.g. Matthew Buss accepts a sword from his father, Vice Adm. David Buss, at the elder Buss' retirement ceremony Jan. 22, 2015, aboard the USS John C. Stennis at Naval Station North Island, California. Buss served 36 years in the Navy and on Thursday relinquished command of Naval Air Forces to Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker. (Jennifer Hlad/Stars and Stripes)
Incoming Commander of Naval Air Forces Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker (left) shakes hands with outgoing "Air Boss" Vice Adm. David Buss on Jan. 22, 2015 aboard the USS John C. Stennis at Naval Station North Island, California. (Jennifer Hlad/Stars and Stripes)
Vice Adm. David Buss (left) shakes hands with Adm. Harry Harris Jr., commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, at Buss' change of command and retirement ceremony Jan. 22, 2015, aboard the USS John C. Stennis at Naval Station North Island, California. (Jennifer Hlad/Stars and Stripes)
NAVAL STATION NORTH ISLAND, Calif. — The new commander of Naval Air Forces said Thursday that his main goal is to empower commodores, air group and carrier commanders to allow them to “focus on warfighting first.”
Newly promoted Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker took command of Naval Air Forces and Naval Air Force Pacific Fleet on Thursday, as Vice Adm. David Buss ended a naval career that began at the Naval Academy in July 1974.
Shoemaker moved to Coronado from Norfolk, Va., where he served as commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic Fleet. He told sailors and friends gathered aboard the USS John C. Stennis that he is ready for the challenges ahead: specifically, maintaining readiness in an uncertain fiscal environment.
Even as sailors fired a 17-gun salute to begin the ceremony and a formation of Blue Angels roared overhead, Navy pilots were launching from the deck of the USS Carl Vinson for airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, Buss said.
And carrier deployments to the Persian Gulf are likely to continue, Shoemaker said. The USS Theodore Roosevelt is preparing to replace the Vinson after a nine-month deployment, and also is expected to stay in the region about nine months.
Sailors are unlikely to see much of a difference from the way Buss did business, Shoemaker said. He wants his commanders to focus on warfighting.
Shoemaker is friendly and has a “sunny disposition,” but is also extremely intelligent and a great leader, said retired Adm. Joseph Prueher, guest speaker at the ceremony.
“Organizations flourish under Mike Shoemaker,” he said.
Prueher was the executive officer Buss reported to for his first job in the fleet 35 years ago. Prueher joked that he was going to say that then-Ensign Buss was by far the best junior officer he had, but changed his mind when he saw some of the other sailors who had been junior officers at that time in the audience.
“He was awfully good, though,” Prueher said. “He makes complicated things simple. ... He’s steeped in confidence and competence, but no trace of arrogance.”
Buss praised the Navy and naval aviation in particular, saying the strategic relevance and importance of the force must never be underestimated, and that resources are needed to maintain those capabilities.
“We’re not a fair-weather force — we’re an any-weather force,” he said. Not only does naval aviation answer the nation’s call, Buss said, “we pick up the phone on the very first ring.”
To close the ceremony, Buss’ son, Lt. j.g. Matthew Buss, read “The Watch,” a poem read at Navy retirements.
“For 36 years, this sailor has stood the watch,” the younger Buss said. “Today, we are here to say: Shipmate, the watch stands relieved, relieved by those you have trained and guided and led. ... Dad, I have the watch.”
