Cleveland.com:
U.S. Coast CLEVELAND — Guard Rear Admiral June Ryan had two choices: continue her military career and risk leaving Cleveland or retire and stay in the city her family fell in love with.
She, her husband and daughter are staying.
“My family has been bitten by the Cleveland bug, and they don’t want to leave,” Ryan said with a laugh.
Ryan, a Bowling Green State University graduate who has been in the Coast Guard for 33 years, is the first woman commander of the Ninth Coast Guard District, which is based in Cleveland and encompasses the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway.
She was the first woman in Coast Guard history to move from being junior enlisted to enroll in officer training school. She also served as military advisor to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.
Of the nine Coast Guard districts, two are currently headed by women — Ryan in the Ninth District and Rear Admiral Meredith Austin of the Fifth District, which oversees the mid-Atlantic region.
For the first time in Coast Guard history, another woman, Rear Admiral Joanna Nunan, is taking Ryan’s place as district commander.
Ryan, who as a child moved back and forth between Pittsburgh and Iowa, came to Cleveland two years ago. Her daughter, who had not been to the city, was in eighth grade. She fell in love with St. Joseph Academy on the city’s West Side. And Ryan wants to keep her in the school.
She will retire this month, leaving the 6,000 men and women of the Coast Guard district and the life of maritime safety, security, law enforcement and icebreaking.
What has it been like? Cleveland.com sat down with Ryan in her office overlooking Lake Erie. Here’s what she said, with answers edited for brevity and clarity.
Was there anything in your upbringing that made you want to enlist in the Coast Guard?
Ryan:
In Iowa, my dad and I sailed (on the Mississippi River) so that’s where I first got interested in that.
I always knew that I would be in a service of some sort. I was thinking I’d be a nurse or a teacher, but then when I saw a Coast Guard commercial, I thought, ‘Wow, I could do that, but on the water.’ I guess the search-and-rescue aspect drew me to it.
So your career has taken you across the country — Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, New York, Maine, and now back in Cleveland. Which of your on- and off-shore duties over the years are most memorable? Fulfilling?
That’s kind of like kids — it’s hard to pick one favorite. I would say that I’ve really embraced anywhere I’ve been. Being here has been a neat opportunity to (oversee) the entire region. I think what I enjoy
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most about this is that I get the opportunity to travel and meet the people who are literally rescuing.
As an admiral, I’m not underway on ships. I’m not the one who’s actually putting my hand in the water and pulling somebody out. But I get to shake the hands of the people who do that. That gives me great pride.
Before this job, I like to say the most fun job I’ve ever had was on the icebreaker. It’s kind of like demolition derby. The icebreaker rides on top of the ice and then the weight of the ship breaks it. It’s very loud but it’s also very fun. I did that for two years.
What in your career has been a challenge for you?
My hardest mission was my very first one. I was on a 378-foot cutter (patrol ship) called the Gallatin. We did a lot of the Caribbean patrols, so we did a lot of counter-drug missions and arresting really bad people, some of them cartel members. When they’d look at you and say, ‘I’ll come after your family,’ that’s a little unsettling.
I think the hardest missions, though, were migrant missions. So just like some people come over the southwest border, people are also trying to come to the
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United States by boat. Many of them are out at sea for a very long time without food or water and in these very overcrowded boats — they’re in a small 20- or 30-foot boat with 200 people onboard.
That was the hardest because we’d take them onboard and then take them back to their country. We know that most of them have taken their entire live savings to make that voyage, but at the other side of that, there’s legal means by which to come into the country, and you have to follow those.
Do you prefer working out on the water or have you found duties that you like better onshore?
I would say that being out on the water is always the most fun and gratifying, but it’s also the most challenging. People don’t call the Coast Guard in really good weather. But the other piece to that is when you bring a vessel back or you grab somebody from the water, that’s also very satisfying.
Ashore, my most satisfying job other than this one, was as an instructor at Maritime Law Enforcement School. I feel very strongly that mission excellence starts with a person’s training and to be able to
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demonstrate their capability and skill set before you put them out on the water.
When you graduate 300 or 400 people every year and you know that they’re ready to go, that’s really satisfying. I actually ended up getting my post-graduate degree in adult education and training because of that.
What do you really love about your job?
A lot of times, when people retire or leave a unit, they’ll get up and say, it’s the people (who they love the most). What I would say, though, is that it’s not the people. It’s the culture of the people.
They could tell me tomorrow that I’m not going to retire and that I’m being moved to a new unit and I don’t know anybody there. But I can arrive at that city and get a flat tire and call anybody, any phone number of any Coast Guard person and they would come and help.
It’s really that kind of teamwork and family atmosphere that I think is what others mean when they say they’ll miss the people. Everybody has your back, and you’re never alone. In my opinion, that’s the best thing about the Coast Guard culture and people.
What are your plans for after retirement?
My plan is to give back, but I don’t know what the looks like, exactly. I have joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary, which is our volunteer arm. They do things like boating safety classes, so I’m looking forward to doing that. I’d also like to contribute to some high schools or grade schools, particularly as it relates to programs that help young girls and women build self-esteem and confidence.
And we just bought a fixer-upper house so we’re in the process of taking down wallpaper, painting the walls, things like that. Those are our weekends now.
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