PENTAGON - When coronavirus precautions forced the U.S. Naval Academy to cancel graduation ceremonies last month, Class of 2020 Ensign Francesca Browne didn’t let that stop her from marking the occasion.
She turned to her dad, Rear Admiral (Sel.) Putnam Browne, and asked him to commission her at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
“Lincoln means so much to our family,” the admiral told VOA, because Lincoln’s Navy namesake, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, is the ship he commanded — and the vessel where his daughter joined him for her Naval Academy cruise.
The pair and their family stood alone at the historic memorial on that rainy but celebratory morning. Both raised their right hands, and Browne administered the oath of office to his daughter, a moment she said was “heartfelt” and perfect.
“I definitely choked up,” she said.
For the Brownes, the Navy isn’t just a career; it’s the family business.
The admiral's father served in World War II. His grandfather served in both world wars. And his daughter says seeing the “Navy family” firsthand played a huge role in her decision to join.
“I knew that it was the right choice for me because of him,” she said of her dad. “He was a major influence on me, whether he meant to be or not.”
The dadmiral
There’s even an unofficial title for high-ranking Navy officers with children – the dadmiral, a name that’s part “dad,” part “admiral.” It’s usually associated with the strict rules that come in a military family. For Francesca Browne, the stereotype definitely hits home.
"I used to talk back a lot as a kid, but he fixed it pretty quickly. He used to tell me to drop and give him 10,” she explained, and added that he would always do the push-up punishment with her.
That coach-like relationship continued throughout Browne’s years at the Naval Academy, where, like her father, she rowed on a Navy crew team.
When a hip injury kept her from rowing, Browne switched to steering a boat as a coxswain for the men’s team, making them the team’s first-ever father-daughter duo, albeit participating at different times.
“That was another very cool transition because we had this, another shared kind of bond,” she said.
Not a clear-cut path
But while the Navy was a clear-cut path for the Browne daughter-dadmiral duo, the same couldn’t be said for Lieutenant Commander Megan Isaac and her dad, retired Navy Rear Admiral Philip Greene Jr.
“I had always thought I was going to be a ballerina. That was my plan,” Isaac told VOA.
But on September 11 of Isaac’s senior year of high school, her plans quickly changed. Her nation was attacked, and her father was stationed at the Pentagon, where 184 people died after a passenger plane crashed into the building.
“That day impacted me so much because someone who had been always a point of stability and assurance in my life — there was a question mark there for a few hours. And someone had done that — had attacked our country — and I felt for the first time in my life very compelled to do something about it,” she said.
In the days after 9/11, Greene watched with pride and surprise as his daughter applied to attend the Navy’s top academy.
'What did I just do!'
Isaac still vividly remembers her first day at the school. The Navy took all of her personal belongings, cut off her hair and gave her the same assigned clothing as everyone else.
“And I remember just thinking, did I just make the worst decision? What did I just do!” she said.
Her dad, however, said he had ample confidence for them both.
“For me it was a really rewarding and exciting day because I knew that she was up to the task,” Greene said.
The father-daughter duo has since shared countless Navy experiences throughout Isaac’s nearly 15 years of service.
And it turns out the USS Abraham Lincoln isn’t special just for the Brownes.
Daughter in charge
In 2018, Isaac led the public affairs team of the Lincoln, where her father had served 10 years prior as the destroyer squadron commander, and she was able to bring him back aboard.
“I had the uniform, I had the radio. I knew everyone on the ship, so I could get around. And it was really fun for me to be able to kind of walk him around his old stomping grounds,” she said.
Greene, meanwhile, couldn’t have been prouder. He said the Navy has given them a special bond because, as he put it, “it's something that only we share.”
And Isaac said that whenever she needs help, he’s always been there for her.
“There have been several times in my life where I just have felt like I didn't know where to go, what the right direction was,” she said, “and he's always been the one to listen and make sure that I stay on the right path.”
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