Most people would jump at the at the chance to travel overseas after retirement, but Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey M. Beaty, who has done tours in Hong Kong, Thailand, Korea and Guam with the U.S. Navy, said he would rather settle into a civilian job than leave San Diego.
After 30 years of naval service, Beaty recently retired as executive officer ” the No. 2 man ” of Naval Base Point Loma, where he has served for the past two years.
Beaty was honored in a retirement ceremony July 20 aboard the USS Roncador Memorial.
Capt. Mark D. Patton, the current commanding officer of Naval Base Point Loma, spoke during the retirement ceremony about Beaty’s work as second in command.
According to Patton, Beaty’s most important contribution to the base has been his daily presence overseeing operations.
“If you think about it, Point Loma [Naval Base] supports 22,000 people and 65 different tenant commands, so our job is to make sure every single one of those folks has the support and facilities they need to do their jobs,” Patton said. “As commanding officer, I’m often caught up in strategic issues. But [Beaty] is ‘on the deck plates,’ as we say, getting the job done on a daily basis.”
Beaty’s naval contributions began in 1977, when he decided to join after a friend introduced him to a brother already enlisted.
“His brother was telling some sea stories, and it made me think, ‘I want to go on an adventure.'” Beaty said. “It was an unpopular decision in those days, but it was the best thing for me at the time.”
As the eldest of four children growing up in a middle-class family in Detroit, Beaty said he worried how he would finance his college education before joining the Navy.
Beaty’s naval tours have taken him to the Western Pacific and the Persian Gulf, where he served as an ensign, or junior officer, in Operation Desert Shield, the naval accompaniment to Operation Desert Storm during the first Gulf War.
Beaty said also he spent 17 years in Hawaii, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Hawaii Pacific University in 1993.
Beaty has also overseen the crews of several remotely operated vehicles, which maneuver underwater, collect water samples and take video footage.
But according to Beaty, his most challenging jobs in the Navy have been as executive officer at U.S. Naval Base Guam and, more recently, at Naval Base Point Loma, in part because of the prominent role the bases play in U.S. military actions.
At Naval Base Point Loma, “We have such a large fuel facility that we can fuel all the ships that go to sea and allow warships to train in the area. We fuel direct support to the global war on terror and [Operation] Iraqi Freedom,” Beaty said.
According to Patton, Beaty was instrumental in planning and securing funds for the soon-to-take-place transferal of naval ships and training facilities from Naval Station Ingleside, Texas, to San Diego under the U.S. Defense Department’s Base Realignment and Closure Commission program (BRAC), which he said will take place over the next 18 months.
Cmdr. Steven D. Sharer relieved Beaty as executive officer of Naval Base Point Loma on July 18. Sharer reported to Naval Base Point Loma from the USS Nimitz, where he served as chief engineer.
Patton said he is sorry to see Beaty retire, but “after 39 years of outstanding service to our country, this is the logical next step.”
“The exciting thing is that San Diego gets to keep Jeff in the area,” Patton added. “He has taken a civilian job [as region program director] of port operations” at the naval base.