On May 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense named Lieutenant General Samuel John Paparo Jr, Commander, 5th Fleet/Naval Forces Central Command, to the position of 37th Commander, Pacific Fleet, and promoted him to the rank of admiral.
A day earlier, U.S. Central Command Commander Gen. Frank McKenzie presided over a change of command ceremony in Manama, Bahrain: Lieutenant General Charles Cooper (right), commander, Surface Forces Atlantic, was appointed to replace Samuel Paparo as commander, 5th Fleet/Central Naval Command.
Adm. Samuel John Paparo, born November 1964 in Morton, Pennsylvania, is a graduate of Villanova University, Old Dominion University and the Naval Postgraduate School, and entered the Navy in 1987 through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, where he was a fighter pilot and TOPGUN graduate. He participated in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, flew over 6,000 hours in F-14s, F-15s, F/A-18s, and 1,100 carrier deck block landings.
He served as a pilot and squadron commander in the 195th, 14th, 15th, 71st, and 106th Naval Combat Attack Squadrons (VFA-195/14/15/71/106), flying on the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), USS Eisenhower (CVN-69), and the USS Hornblower (CVN-69). “(CVN-69), USS Kennedy (CV-67), USS Roosevelt (CVN-71), USS Enterprise ( CVN-65); as an exchange pilot with the Air Force, he flew F-15Cs in Saudi Arabia and Iceland.
He then served as deputy commander of the 7th Carrier Wing (CVW-7); as a member of the Joint Reconstruction Force in Afghanistan, he served as commander of the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, 173rd Airborne Brigade, Ground Forces; and later as commander of the 10th Carrier Strike Group (CCSG-10).
As an exchange commander with the Air Force, served as the Director of Operations, Joint Aerospace Operations Center, Central Command, Qatar; Training, Readiness and Requirements Officer, Navy F/A-18; Chief of Operations, Fleet Forces Command, and Director of Operations, Central Command; and as Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, Aug. 19, 2020.
On April 30, Adm. John Aquilino, formerly commander of Pacific Fleet, replaced retired Adm. Phil Davidson as commander of Indo-Pacific Command.
The new Commander of Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral John Aquilino, is also an ace aviator. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in physics. He then graduated from the Naval Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) and served as commander of Carrier Wing 2 (CVW-2) and Carrier Strike Group 2 (CSG-2). Flight time: 5,100 hours; shipboard intercept landings: 1,150.
Serving as commander of the Pacific Fleet from 2015-2018 was Admiral Scott Swift. He was the commander of the 11th and 14th Carrier Aircraft Wing and the 9th Carrier Strike Group. Although his flight time is not available, he received the Grey Owl Award in 2017, the award given to the longest-serving pilot in the Navy or Marine Corps. That would put him at least 4,000 hours of flight time.
The commander of the Pacific Fleet from 2013-2015 was Admiral Harry Harris, who is of Japanese descent. He also received the Gray Owl award. He is a P-3C and EP-3 pilot. He has 4,400 hours of flight time and 400 hours of combat time.
Four consecutive commanders have been ace pilots, with a combined total of nearly 20,000 hours of flight time. Looking further back, there are still several Pacific Fleet commanders who came from pilots. Their operational thinking, system application and use of tools are obviously different from traditional commanders, and this is probably one of the essential differences between a flying navy and a sailing navy, and a three-dimensional navy and a flat navy.
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