THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607230273
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 106 lines
For the first part of her Navy career, her world revolved around flight suits, hot engine grease, rotors and pitching ship decks.
Susan D. Fink is a helicopter pilot.
Lately, wearing the gold braid of an admiral's aide on her shoulder, the 31-year-old lieutenant commander has worked in a world of spit and polish, as an adviser on national and international affairs, a coordinator for high-level visitors, heads of state and military and congressional dignitaries.
She's the protocol officer for the commander-in-chief of the Atlantic Fleet.
Come September, Fink will step out of uniform for a year and into yet another world: the White House.
President Clinton earlier this month awarded Fink one of this year's 18 White House Fellowships.
It's a step that military officers before her have taken on their way to the top: Gen. Colin Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Adm. Leon A. ``Bud'' Edney, former Atlantic Fleet Commander; Adm. Charles R. Larson, superintendent of the Naval Academy. All were White House Fellows.
And, until a few years ago, most were men.
This year, 10 of the 18 were awarded to women. As Fellowship Director Brooke Shearer put it last week: ``For the first time in the program's 32-year history, most of the `Fellows' aren't.''
The new class includes a female geologist, a firefighter, an author, a psychiatrist and a lawyer.
Fink is simply glad they included her.
``My heart was beating so fast when they called,'' she said. ``It's a wonderful opportunity and I marvel at my good fortune. But I was prepared either way.''
She plans to return to flying following the White House program.
``I am loving it,'' said Fink of a Navy career that began barely 10 years ago with her Naval Academy commissioning. ``I love to look at life as a journey as I set off on these great goals. But it's the journey that's so much fun.''
Fink, the daughter of a retired Navy captain, has a brother who is a naval reserve officer and a sister who directs the Navy/Marine Relief Office in Long Beach, Calif.
There is no denying this is a Navy family.
Nor is there any doubt Fink is in for the long haul. ``Ever since my childhood, I wanted to be in the Navy,'' she said. ``When we lived in Philadelphia I saw all the Army/Navy games. . . . I wanted to be a part of it.''
She earned her wings in 1987, flying CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters and deploying to Guam.
During Operation Desert Storm she flew combat logistics for ships in the Persian Gulf.
In 1993 she earned her master's degree in national security affairs, Europe/Eurasian Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. Her thesis on the effect of domestic politics on U.S. foreign policy will be published in Harvard University's Nationalities Papers this year.
Returning to the flight line in 1993, she became an instructor pilot in San Diego. While there she also established the Pacific Fleet's search-and-rescue evaluation program and flew with 27 Navy and Marine Corps helicopter units, training them in joint inland and maritime search-and-rescue operations.
In June 1995 she reported to the Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk as protocol officer for the fleet commander, Adm. William J. Flanagan Jr.
She's never met her new boss, President Clinton. ``I look forward to meeting him in the fall,'' she said.
White House Fellows spend a year working as special assistants to senior officials in the White House and in Cabinet agencies. They also work with Supreme Court justices, members of Congress, Fortune 500 executives and journalists.
The non-partisan program was created in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson and John Gardner, his Health, Education and Welfare secretary.
Fink hopes to work outside the national security area she's most familiar with.
``But I'll go anywhere they place me,'' she said. ``I just have a particular interest in commerce or trade, especially since just serving a year with Adm. Flanagan, who brings a very businesslike perspective to our Navy.
``I would just like to see that side of it at the highest level of government.''
Fink's purpose in joining the fellowship program is twofold. ``First, I want to contribute something,'' she said. ``I want to represent women and men in the fleet at the highest level of government. I think that is important. It is important to have Navy representation in there.
``There is so much right with the Navy. So much good. People are out there every day serving on ships. They don't make movies about them and might not write books about them, but they are heroes in my mind. I want to represent the heroes.
``Secondly, I want to bring something back to the fleet. Now more than ever, I think it is important for the Navy to interact with all the different agencies and learn from them - and they from us.'' MEMO: THE FELLOWSHIP
White House Fellows spend a year as special assistants to officials
in the White House and in Cabinet agencies.
Many military leaders, including Colin Powell, have participated in
the 32-year-old program.
This year, 10 of the 18 fellowships were awarded to women.
Fink's classmates will include a geologist, a firefighter, an author,
a psychiatrist and a lawyer. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by BETH BERGMAN, The Virginian-Pilot
Lt. Cmdr. Susan Fink, a Navy helicopter pilot and protocol officer
for the Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, has been selected
as a White House Fellow. The program invites 18 men and women from
all walks of life to work with top administrative officials for a
year. by CNB