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JBSA News
NEWS | Aug. 7, 2018

Joint Base San Antonio has a new admiral

By Larry Coffey Navy Medicine Education, Training and Logistics Command Public Affairs

Command of Navy Medicine Education, Training and Logistics Command, or NMETLC, changed Aug. 3 when Rear Adm. Tina Davidson relieved Rear Adm. Rebecca McCormick-Boyle during a combined change of command and retirement ceremony at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston.

 

Davidson reported from Washington, D.C., where she served as director, Medical Resources, Plans and Policy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, and as director of the Navy Nurse Corps, a leadership role she’ll continue as NMETLC commander.

 

“I know I have some big shoes to fill, and just as you turned the reins of the Navy Nurse Corps over to me last year, it is once again a true honor to follow in your footsteps,” Davidson said, speaking directly to McCormick-Boyle during the change of command.

 

Davidson told her new command, “At NMETLC, we support the warfighters so the United States can win wars. And while many Americans may not be aware of exactly what we do here, and may have never even heard of NMETLC, we owe it to the American people as well. They expect that their service members will return home to them, safe and sound. That is the ‘why,’ why we are here. I am excited to get started.”

 

NMETLC’s new commander is a St. Louis native with a bachelor’s and master’s in nursing, a master’s in Health Services Management, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice. Her operational assignments include ship’s nurse on the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), and a deployment to Kuwait as director of Nursing Services for Expeditionary Medical Facility Portsmouth.

 

Davidson has also served at Navy hospitals and clinics in San Diego, Great Lakes/Chicago, Virginia, Tennessee, and overseas in Italy and Japan. Her executive assignments include officer in charge of the Adm. Joel T. Boone Branch Health Clinic Little Creek, Virginia; U.S. Fleet Forces Command as the first fleet nurse; executive officer, Naval Health Clinic Annapolis, Maryland; and commanding officer, Naval Health Clinic New England, Newport, Rhode Island.

 

Vice Adm. Forrest Faison, the Navy surgeon general, served as the presiding officer for the change of command and guest speaker for the retirement ceremony. He described the responsibility of a Navy commanding officer to an audience ranging from current, former and retired members of all five military services to civilians and community leaders with no military service.

 

“It is said that an entire command reflects the personality and drive of a single individual, the commanding officer,” Faison said. “In the Navy, it is known that command is absolute, and with it comes absolute responsibility and accountability, which can never be shared, delegated, transferred or escaped.”

 

Addressing McCormick-Boyle, Faison added, “Rebecca, I could not be more proud of you for fostering a command that led the Navy in so many areas.  That would not have happened without your unparalleled leadership.”

 

McCormick-Boyle retires after almost 37 years of Navy service, all as a Navy nurse. She served as the Navy Nurse Corps director from April 2014 to March 2017 before turning over the position to Davidson. She described her passion for nursing during the retirement ceremony.

 

“I am a Navy nurse through and through, and I am so very grateful to have this calling, this work worth doing,” McCormick-Boyle said. “Nurses have the privilege of and responsibility to touch lives at the most profound moments, from birth through life.”

 

McCormick-Boyle retires as the Navy’s senior nurse and the senior Navy officer in Texas. She has commanded NMETLC and represented the San Antonio Sea Services – Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard – since June 2014.

 

As NMETLC commander, she was responsible for Navy Medicine’s education, training and logistics, essentially educating, training and equipping Navy Medicine. Her legacy will include leading Navy Medicine through its greatest and most complex education and training growth and change in decades.

 

McCormick-Boyle addressed her passion for service and leadership, quoting President Theodore Roosevelt.

 

“Teddy got it right. ‘Far and away, the best prize is the opportunity to work hard at work worth doing,’” McCormick-Boyle said. “That prize has been mine, and I am so grateful for having served as a Nurse Corps officer in the United States Navy. To be of service, to support a mission and to believe fully in the organization’s principles; to love and be loved by my shipmates. What could possibly more fulfilling?”