THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 14, 1995 TAG: 9507140409
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By KERRY DEROCHI, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
The ceremony is planned for the afternoon sun on the banks of the Elizabeth River.
Horse-drawn carriages will line the carefully mowed grass, in tribute to the moment's history and pomp. Guests will circulate in the steamy shade of canvas tents, while a fleet band serenades them.
The event will showcase the pageantry of Navy rituals and the finery bestowed on admirals - the military royals.
But when the speeches end late this afternoon and Rear Adm. William J. McDaniel hands over command of the sprawling naval hospital, someone, somewhere, will wonder: Why didn't he leave in his orange kayak?
It's a fair question for this admiral, an orthopedic surgeon known as much for his athletics and antics as for the trappings of his two-star rank.
When he steps down as commanding officer of the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center at 4 p.m. today, he will end a colorful and ambitious tenure as head of the Navy's oldest and busiest hospital.
``He is probably one of the most down-to-earth, people-oriented gentlemen that I've ever met in my naval career,'' said Teresa Barnet, the lead petty officer for physical therapy.
``He's up there in rank, but he's never forgotten his roots. He's a great guy. He's always been that way. Always.''
Those who have worked for McDaniel say they will remember him for a leadership style not often found among the higher ranks. Though bosses in the Navy come and go, they say, McDaniel's influence will not be forgotten.
It's easy to see why images of this admiral will linger.
There's McDaniel the champion wrestler, who, according to legend, said he would give 96 hours of liberty to any sailor who could pin him. (None did, but McDaniel gave them 72 hours for trying.)
There's McDaniel the kayaker, who has explored the waterways of Hampton Roads, often paddling across the river to Nauticus, Waterside and Portside to make his ``social rounds.''
There's McDaniel the adventurer, who climbed the 210-foot construction crane because the 125-foot one wasn't tall enough.
There's McDaniel the boss, who inspected a U.S. tent hospital in Zagreb, Croatia, and then watched ``Ace Ventura, Pet Detective'' with 20 of his corpsmen.
``He has a knack for making everyone feel like an equal,'' said Lt. j.g. Brenda Adams, a dietician. ``It's the way he greets you. You just walk in his office, and he's like, `Hi. Have a seat.'
``He wants everyone to feel a part of the team.''
McDaniel, 52, will be replaced by Rear Adm. William R. Rowley, the assistant chief of plans and analysis for the Bureau of Navy Medicine and Surgery.
McDaniel, who lost his bid for Navy surgeon general earlier this year, will transfer to Hawaii, where he will be commanding surgeon for the Pacific Fleet. He will serve there for 18 months before retiring from the Navy.
Looking back on his three years at Portsmouth Naval, McDaniel traces his achievements through the smiles on the faces of patients he's visited on the hospital's 15th floor and the pride in his doctors, nurses and corpsmen who deployed to Croatia to treat U.N. peacekeepers.
He cites construction of the $360 million new facility on the hospital grounds and the philosophy he hoped to instill in the medics who work there as other achievements. His staff produced a managed care project that has become a model for the military's Tricare program across the country.
``Good leaders have always gotten the best out of their people,'' McDaniel said in a recent interview. ``You pull the folks in and say, `You're responsible for this institution, not me. You folks have got to step to the plate and do the job.' ''
As his career winds down, McDaniel said he plans to take on the budget analysts and politicians who want to scale back the role of military medicine.
McDaniel said he knows firsthand of the exhaustive care and treatment a military staff can give its patients - from the sailor who has broken a leg to the Cuban refugee who faces certain death from malnutrition.
``There are some critical of military medicine who say, let's contract everything out,'' McDaniel said. ``My answer to them is, then find me a group of civilians I can jerk up out of their practices and homes, who are willing to live in tents, who are willing to sit on the (hospital ship) Comfort.
``The vast majority of our mission is not war. The vast majority of our mission is the day-to-day meeting of crises around the world.''
In his farewell speech this afternoon, McDaniel plans to credit his staff for the ``compassion and caring they have shown'' the last three years.
He is nonchalant about his own accomplishments and the path he took from a farm in Oklahoma to his corner office overlooking the Elizabeth River.
``Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid,'' he said, referring to a quote from John Wayne that hangs on his office wall. ``I just try not to be stupid.
``Rarely do I think about being an admiral. When I meet the people I came into the Navy with, they say, `Wow, you haven't changed'.
``I take that as a positive.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color Staff photo by Richard L. Dunston/
Rear Adm. William J. McDaniel steps down as commanding officer of
Portsmouth Naval after a colorful three-year tenure.
KEYWORDS: RETIREMENT U.S. PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL U.S. NAVY by CNB