Kinda curious about this Admiral, but have high hopes. Considering his predecessors, he has nowhere to go but up.
Looking at his medals, he has a noticeable gap in personal awards. Specifically between his Naval Comm’s and LoM. I have as many NC’s and NA’s as he does, but also have a Meritorious Service Medal and Air Medal. He goes right to the Legion of Merit (which is practically a mandatory award for O-6’s) and the Defense Superior Service Medal (which is given after a tour at the Pentagon). So he has a couple that practically all Navy O-6’s and above should have, but if his combat tour was at a trauma center in Iraq, then he should have numerous MSM’s and even a Bronze or two.
I hope he turns out better than many before him, but I see him as a career cubical filler.
It is a bit odd that he made Rear Admiral - or got an LoM - without an MCM. One possibility is that he’s NOT an ass-kisser and a couple of commanders didn’t like that, so didn’t give him EOT awards...