The commander of a guided missile cruiser will become the U.S. Naval Academy's second-in-command next month in a move that keeps the school in the hands of academy-trained Navy officers for at least another year.
Capt. Gary Roughead, 45, was endorsed as commandant of midshipmen by Adm. Charles R. Larson, the academy's superintendent, who will retire next year and has told aides he intends to hand-pick the school's next leaders. Roughead served as Larson's executive assistant when the admiral was chief of the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii from 1991 to 1994.
Larson said he looked forward to Roughead's arrival, though the appointment caused grumbling from one influential retired Marine General who says the Marines should have more top appointments at the academy.
"There has to be an understanding that the Marines Corp wants to be a major player in the development of young Naval officers," said Thomas V. Draude, a retired Marine brigadier general and close friend of the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. Charles Krulak.
"I hope there is not a signal sent that the Marines' desire is being ignored or thwarted."
Roughead, a 1973 academy graduate, will replace Capt. William T.R. "Randy" Bogle, a burly helicopter pilot with show-stopping charisma. Larson brought in Bogle in August 1994 to add inspirational spark to the brigade after several scandals.
Bogle took away many midshipmen's liberties within months of his arrival. The goal was to foster "leadership by presence" among the senior midshipmen by keeping them on campus to teach younger students. Through a mix of military machismo and individual attention, Bogle managed to sell the unpopular moves to the brigade.
"We talk about leading from the front," said Bogle, a 1968 academy graduate, during a May interview. "You need to be able to show people where they need to go."
The commandant of midshipman -- the equivalent of a civilian university's dean of students -- is considered a prestigious Navy billet with daily responsibility for 4,000 officers-in-training. It is also a coveted stepping stone; Adm. Joseph W. Prueher, commandant in the late 1980s, is now chief of U.S. forces in the Pacific.
But in endorsing a commandant from the Navy, Larson has put off a Marine Corps request for more clout.
One of every four naval officers is a Marine.
