Evening Lecture | Jeff Bacon: Toons, Roots & Troops: The Art of Leadership

Well, good evening. It's always a wonderful occasion to see so many assembled in Spruance Auditorium. This evening, it is a great honor for me to introduce my friend, Jeff Bacon. Tonight he will present the Contemporary Civilization lecture entitled, Tombs, Roots, and Troops, the Art of Leadership, sponsored by the Naval War College Foundation, where's Peter? Thank you, sir, and your band of brothers and sisters. Through the generosity of Drs. Daniel and Susan Tice, in honor of Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, Medal of Honor recipient, Jeff's first Navy Times cartoon, Broadside, was published in March 1986, and has appeared weekly ever since. In 2006, his Marine-oriented cartoon, Greenside, began its run in the Marine Corps Times. His art has been printed in numerous government publications, professional papers, and a lot of cubicles around the world. I know from sitting in on classes, it's a rare class that doesn't have a Broadside cartoon, one of Jeff's cartoons, that somehow perfectly captures all it means to serve in uniform. His cartoons have been displayed at the Navy Art Gallery and the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., and have been published in three books. He donates artwork to the Navy Memorial and various non-profit groups throughout the year, and has been a featured speaker for numerous commands and organizations around the world. A member of the National Cartoonist Society, he has been active in the, quote, Support the Troops initiative, arranging visits by professional cartoonists to active duty and VA hospitals in order to give back to those who served. He was honored in 2008 with the Special Recognition Award by the Surface Navy Association, and in May of 2009, he was awarded the Silver T-Square by the National Cartoonist Society for his efforts in supporting our troops. He currently resides in Idaho, breathtakingly beautiful Idaho, with his wife and best friend Rebecca, who shares my wife's hometown of Coronado, California. Both got our wives in Coronado, A in judgment. His daughter, Nicole, and a dog named Elway, so if you wonder who his professional football team is. That's the formal introduction. You guys know that I love Admiral Chester Nimitz, five-star Fleet Admiral, 1923 graduate of the United States Naval War College. One of my favorite Nimitz quotes is, the best ships are also surely the happiest ships. Because of Jeff Bacon, my first ship was also the best and happiest ship I ever served on, and Professor Tom Clore, who made that first eight-month, nearly eight-month deployment with us back in 1983, can attest to it. The thing about Jeff is sailors always came first. The sailors out there least able to take care of themselves, the ones who needed inspiration, who needed leadership, who needed a big brother to be their buddy, to block for them and make sure their spaces were clean, made sure they knew what was going on and took care of them. I watched the best leader on USS Cook for two years. After I relieved him, I watched him serve as navigator and then as first lieutenant. He's the best leader I ever saw at sea, and it always began with taking care of the troops. So it's probably no surprise that he's dedicated his post-Navy career to still helping the troops. I think you're in for a great lecture tonight. Because of all that Jeff's done, I'm going to declare that tonight is the best night of my tour as president of the Naval War College because I get to introduce my friend, Jeff Bacon, to all of you. Jeff? I'm supposed to talk about contemporary what? What was that called? Or cartooning is what we call it. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Special welcome to the Naval War College Foundation. Thank you very much for hosting that little reception we had just a few minutes ago. It was a real pleasure meeting all of you. But I'd like to welcome all of you from the Naval War College. It's a real pleasure, and I will say as a former Naval officer, it's an honor to be here. Who would have thought that I'd be standing here talking to you because I'm not one of the smartest guys in the world. But I'm honored to be here. Steve, can we get the next slide? There we go. I'm going to say next and just kind of go that way. How about... Okay, next slide. There we go. First I'd like to thank Admiral Christensen for inviting me to speak here tonight. The Admiral, as the Admiral mentioned, we go way back, back to the early 80s. He introduced me to my wife, Rebecca. He escorted my mom at my retirement ceremony. He and Teresa, in my opinion, are two of the most decent, patriotic, and gracious people I've ever met. So thank you. Notice I didn't mention the two kids sitting behind you. No, they're good kids too. Next slide. I got a note from Admiral Christensen asking me to speak, and I'd like to read it to you. He said, George Will, Bob Ballard, the Israeli Ambassador to the US, Nimitz, Spruance, JFK, every Chief of Naval Operations, every Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the only one missing is Bacon. Next slide. So thank you for taking all the pressure off me, Admiral, and making me feel so at ease. Next slide. It's an honor to be here at this storied institution where the future leaders of our country study and learn. Your missions here, and I got this off the website, develop strategic and operational leaders to help the CNO define the future Navy and its roles and missions to support combat readiness, strengthen maritime cooperation, are all tremendously important if we're to maintain our superiority in this ever-changing world. I'd like to add one more thing too. I think one of your missions is to get to know each other, because I've learned things over the last several hours as I've had the tour here. We have, I think, 17% of the student population are international officers. We have all services represented here. Speaking of those services, next slide, please. What strikes me is that your name is almost a misnomer. It's a joint institution. If not in name, then certainly in population. The Air Force, for example, there are 55 Air Force officers here. Next slide. There are almost the same number of Marines here, which I think is remarkable considering the operational commitments that the Marines have. So those Marines that are in the audience tonight, I think that's a real testament to your leadership and how your service has chosen you as those who will be leading the Corps in the years ahead. Next slide. There's almost 100 Army officers here. I had the pleasure of working a lot with the Army in this program that the Admiral was alluding to, both soldiers and officers, and I'm really, I think it's very refreshing to see a lot of Army representation here. There's even a couple of Coast Guard. Next slide. There's a few Coast Guard officers here, too, seven of them. We kind of consider that one of our sister services. I think it's great that the Coast Guard is represented here, too. There's also an awful lot of civilians here. Next slide, please. They're representing a wide range of agencies and commands, the CIA and the FBI. Is the FBI here? Yeah? No? No FBI? DIA. A lot of different agencies and commands. Next slide. It doesn't matter really what position you hold in the federal government, whether it be in the military or as a civilian, your job is important and it makes a difference. It's important you work together toward a common goal. Next slide. Because we're all in the fight together, as far as I can tell, jointness used to be a bad word or one that got a lot of lip service, well, not anymore. That being said, there's nothing sinister about being loyal to where you come from. Because your roots, what I call your roots, they give you a different perspective. And so when you're solving all these strategic problems that you guys do and those doors that Admiral wouldn't let me go into, you bring a different perspective and that perspective will maybe change the decision a little bit. I think it's fantastic. So it's okay to remember your roots. My roots were in the Navy. And since the audience is only partially a Navy crowd, and to facilitate our growth as a joint community, I thought it'd be helpful to maybe tell you a little bit about the Navy I came from. Next slide. When you think of the Navy, you think of ships. 71% of the globe is covered by the ocean. 50% of all species live there. One in every six jobs in the U.S. is marine-related, and a third of our GNP originates there. So we need people who really know what they're doing out there on the high seas. The OOD, by the way, is the guy who drives the ship. But the Navy isn't just about ships. Next slide. The Navy enjoys undisputed air superiority at sea. Our pilots are well-trained and they're skilled and they're confident. Not everybody can be an aviator. The training is tough and only the best survive to earn those coveted wings of gold. Next slide. And our submarines are sophisticated killing machines. They're as close to being an invincible weapon as I think there is in the military arsenal. Consequently, only the best and the brightest get into the submarine force. But that's not all. Those are our major, I guess, the major parts of the Navy. There's all the other parts of the Navy you need to know about. Next slide. The SEALs. The Navy SEALs have had a series of high publicity successes. They've demonstrated their ability to adapt to changing conditions and remain focused on the mission. The special forces communities are growing while many communities are shrinking in the Navy. That's a testament to their importance. Next slide. Speaking of importance, like all services out there, including the civil service, nothing happens without the supply guys. They ensure that the things that you need to have to perform your mission are there on time and in the right place, which is no small thing in today's world when everything is moving around so quickly. Next slide. During my visit to the military hospitals, I met a lot of EOD guys. Their job is in a world of hidden explosives and buried mines is arguably one of the most dangerous ones in the world, and certainly they're one of the most highly deployed organizations in the Navy. Of all those wounded troops I met, all those EOD guys, not one of them ever told me that they would have done something different and gone into a different community. They're incredible. Next slide. Navy medicine. As it is with all military medicine, Navy medicine... I drew that when I was 50, just in case. Navy medicine's incredible. Had a chance to visit with a lot of Navy medicine people around the world, and the technology that they bear and the dedication they have to our troops is second to none. It's eye-watering. It's humbling to see how well they take care of our troops. Next. Speaking of taking care of the troops, the chaplains. Don't talk about them very much. They're kind of the silent core. They aren't flashy, and they don't focus on their own personal achievement, but their goals are a little bit more lofty. They serve the Lord while they serve us. Next. I could go on and on about the Navy. It doesn't really matter what service you're in, because for all of you in the audience today, you're here to hone the leadership that you've already demonstrated, otherwise you wouldn't be here. It's important because you've been tapped as the next generation of leaders. Your jobs at the Pentagon, on the battlefield, or at sea, will take on an ever-increasing scope and responsibility. It is you who will determine the course our military will take in the years to come. So be ready, because we're counting on you. Next slide. Leadership is an easy word to define, but it's difficult to actually do. If done incorrectly, if power is abused, your ability to lead is damaged. Next slide. Young officers learn to lead by watching and emulating the chain of command. They'll eventually take your best practices and apply them when they take on leadership positions of their own. Next slide. I always looked at suspicion, I always looked with suspicion at a commanding officer or an executive officer who told me, I love my job, I'm having a blast. I prefer the ones who agonize over the decisions, because they're the ones who seem to understand the importance of their roles. They were the leaders who made decisions because they were the right ones, not always the most popular. I'm no sage, but if I learned anything in almost four decades of my association with the military, it's this, it all boils down to the troops. Without them, you're nothing, and they're counting on you to take care of them. Think of the responsibilities our young military members have on the battlefield. Some of them are barely out of high school, yet they carry weapons, they understand the rules of engagement, they're able to apply the rules of engagement even while under duress, they maintain and operate the equipment that you operate, in fact, your lives depend on them. So you, as the senior leaders in the military and the government service, must take care of your troops, because they take care of you. Speaking of troops, there's three troops here I'm going to tell you about. One of them is Michael Monsoor, you've heard his story, Medal of Honor recipient, he was in the SEALs, threw himself on a hand grenade to save the lives of his teammates. When he was buried, as his casket passed by, fellow SEAL team members took off their warfare insignia and stuck them on his casket as it passed by, buried at the point and moment. You haven't heard, oh, not, there you go, the, you haven't heard of Sergeant Chris Tishita, U.S. Army, 2005 he was in a tank, he was the gunner, the shooter, gunner, and an insurgent came in and dropped two hand grenades inside his tank. He yelled, grenade, grabbed one of the grenades, threw it into the breech of his tank, blew off his left hand. Second grenade went off, fractured his jaw in four places, seriously wounded the tank commander, the pressure was such that both of his eyeballs popped out of his skull. The loader was up higher up, both of his legs blown off. So Chris was the only one conscious after that explosion. He looked around, he realized the tank commander was still alive, stuffed some things into his eye sockets to stop the bleeding, dragged him, Chris Tishita is about 150 pounds soaking wet, dragged him out of the tank, dragged the loader out of the tank, got him up on top of the tank because there's fire down below and the magazine had been destroyed or damaged. The insurgent came, Tishita with his good hand reached for his gun, killed the insurgent, and then he started banging on the tank driver's compartment and the tank, the driver had been in country for one week, was in shock, he wasn't injured, but he was freaking out. Tishita kept pounding on the door until he got his attention, had him turn the tank around, get back, saved all four lives, including his own, saved the tank and all those explosives, all those projectiles inside the tank did not fall into the insurgent's hands. He was awarded a Purple Heart and nothing else. A wounded Marine heard about this story, different service, mind you, found out about this, started a movement, and now there is a recommendation for a Medal of Honor up at the national level being considered for Chris Tishita because a Marine stepped in to take care of a soldier. Admiral Christensen will remember this story. This is Jack Valentine, the sailor you see in the picture there, he and 13 sailors were aboard USS Frank Cable in Guam. They were doing routine safety valve checks when the boiler ruptured, sending superheated steam which is about 850 degrees, I wasn't an engineer, is that about right, 850 degrees? I stayed above the engineering plant on my ship. Thirteen sailors were inside there, the superheated steam came in, most of them evacuated, some of them stayed behind to shut down the boiler so the boiler wouldn't blow up. Superheated steam, when you suck that in, it sears your lungs. Several sailors were severely burned, two of them eventually died, one was Machinist Chief Delfin DeLay from the Philippines and the other one was Jack Valentine. They died taking care of their ship and their shipmates. I'm associated with a program for severely wounded and injured veterans in Idaho called the Waiakan Warrior Foundation. Waiakan is a Native American term that stands for guardian spirit. We had our first five students start about six months ago, we have 11 in the program now, but 108 people have volunteered and gone through training to help these guys with mentoring, with tutoring, to knock down obstacles that they have as they try to build careers for themselves. Volunteers include Vietnam veterans, OIF, OEF veterans, students and civilians, many of whom have no military experience or even have ever touched the military in their lives because they just want to give back to those who have served and sacrificed on their behalf. In return, these Waiakan warriors will someday become leaders in their own communities and they'll be able to give back to those who serve them. Take care of your troops and they'll take care of you. It's a cycle of military life. Next shot. So when you leave here and you return back to the battle, look into the eyes of those you lead. You'll see professionalism, you'll see dedication, you'll see pride. Heroes walk among us every day. You sit next to them. You pass them in the passageways of your ships or your commands. There are heroes in this audience here tonight. Some of them have had their moment, others await the call. But they're out there and they're your troops. Protect them as if they're a priceless treasure because that's what they are. Next shot. Earlier I talked about roots. Your roots extend much deeper than your own branch of service. Your roots are the foundation upon which our entire country is built. You represent something much bigger than yourself. Your country has put in your hands a sacred trust that you will protect them and the liberties they hold so dear. We hear of horrific acts by crazed fanatics and tyrants and seen their tactics firsthand. You serve tour after tour after tour in remote lands, fighting a brazen and ruthless enemy who seemingly has no compassion or sense of humanity. We see all this and we just wish things to go back to normal again. But I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, that that is the norm. Tyranny and violence have followed mankind since Cain slew Abel. That is the normal state of affairs. Our experiment in democracy is the anomaly in the history of man. It's fragile. It's always under attack. And given a vacuum, the forces of evil will gleefully step right in. Without the rough men and women who stand ready in the night, our beloved liberties could be at risk. It could be lost. And you are those rough men and women. When Ronald Reagan said, we will preserve for this, we will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness, the we in that sentence is you. On September 11th in D.C., they saw this. Next slide. On September 12th, they saw this. Thousands of men and women, all services and GS ratings went back to work, even as the building was burning. Admiral Christensen was there. He later told me we went back to work to let them know they can't stop us because you're the protectors. Next slide. And keep it in black. After the attacks on 9-11, those in the Navy will probably remember this, but the entire fleet was sortied, was told to get underway on both coasts. What a lot of people don't know is those ships were stationed in such a way as to create a protective bubble around the entire coastline from incoming aircraft and missiles and such. One of those ships was USS George Washington. Plank owner. George Washington went up to the waters off of Manhattan. So imagine yourself that day, a stockbroker or a banker, and all around you is death and destruction and chaos and confusion and buildings falling, people jumping out of windows, horrible things happening. Imagine how you'd feel. And then to take a respite from all that, you turn your back on all the chaos and you look out to sea. And there on the horizon is the unmistakable silhouette, next slide, of a U.S. warship. The only sounds you hear are aircraft flying above you. You look up, those are all military aircraft. What would you feel then? Well, that feeling is what you represent to the people of this country. That feeling is what you represent to the people of the world. You represent a country that's founded on the principle that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness aren't just nice words or an ideal for which you should strive. They're natural, God-given rights that you swore an oath to protect and defend with your very lives if you must. And there's no higher honor than that. Those are your roots. Michael Monsoor, Chris Tishida, Jack Valentine, the Waiakan warriors, and thousands and thousands of other troops just like them, those are your troops. Preserve them both. Protect and defend them both. The world is watching and waiting for leaders. You, out of the countless men and women who could be sitting here today, have been chosen and saddled with the responsibility, the solemn responsibility, of leading us into the future. A month after 9-11, John McCain was speaking at the Naval Academy as part of the Forestall Speaker Series. And he told the midshipmen, soon you will be the shield behind which marches the enduring message of a revolution. Well, ladies and gentlemen, your time is now. You are the shield. Protect your troops. Protect your roots. Protect your country. And as one of the more than 300 million Americans who's a benefactor of that protection, I couldn't be more grateful or more content. Thank you very much. Can I stay up here? Well, I probably ended that on a little solemn note, but I'm happy to talk about, answer any questions you might have about cartoons or anything else. Any cartoonists in the audience? Aspiring cartoonists? You tell me you guys don't write in the notes in the classes? You don't draw little doodles? You're telling me you're not doing that? Yes, sir. Jeff, when did you begin cartooning? Is it something you've always done? Or did it come when you were commissioned? Or how did this come about? Well, the reason I asked about the doodles, I doodle like every college kid should do. And instead of taking notes, that's what I did was I doodled. But when I got on my first ship, which is the USS Cook, our XO, who eventually became Admiral Loeffler, put out the dry erase board. Remember those? Everybody knows dry erase boards now, but they were brand new then. They were state of the art. They were like iPads back in those days. And he put this dry erase board right outside his stateroom, and he said, for official business only, and then he shut his door. So when you're 22 years old, what are you supposed to do? It's like a magnet drives you right to it. So I started drawing, doodling stuff. And so the XO would come up with some kind of a notorious idea, and we would do a cartoon about it and then run away. So the XO would get all mad. XO would get angry, upset, which made it even better, because then you become a rock star then. And that's really how it started. And we still joke about it. I still keep in touch with the Admiral, and he acknowledges he did get mad. Yes, ma'am. Oh, I think my favorite one is probably how aviators view surface warfare. That was because a real good friend, a mutual friend of ours, a guy named Ross Dickerson, his call sign was Bosco. He's an F-14 guy. And he had videotaped the focal follies, which is what aviators do when they're coming back from deployment. They have these crazy skits. And they did a skit that was based on Top Gun, where instead of being aviators, it was a Top Gun, but it was about surface warfare guys. And they couldn't handle the fact that you'd have a ship that was coming in, the closest it would get you would be five miles away. And for surface warfare guys, that's a big deal. And people were sweating and throwing their SWO pins down on the table saying, I can't handle the pressure. You know, the closest point of approach is going to happen in three and a half hours. And everybody's, you know, wringing their hands. And I think somebody said something like, come on, Maverick, do some of that SWO stuff you do. And yeah, so I think that's probably my favorite because it gets so close to home. And the other one was the weather guy that had his face plastered against the windshield as the CO got angry because he had the wrong forecast. But that's because the weather guy. Any other questions? Yes, sir, Admiral. Oh, I'll tell you the whole story. I was getting ready to retire in 05. And the cartoonists have a convention every year. It's kind of like the Oscars for cartoonists. It's called the Rubin Awards. Except, you know, cartoonists, you know, they wear funny tennis shoes. And it's not quite the Oscars. But I was at one of those things. And they have a business meeting. And so I asked them, what are you guys doing for the troops? What are the cartoonists doing for the troops? Because you used to draw in World War II, Korea, Vietnam. What are we doing now? And I'm not exactly the world's most famous cartoonist in the cartooning world. So they looked at me kind of strangely like, nothing, we're not doing anything. Why don't you take that on, whoever you are? And I said, OK. So we did. We started this program. And that program grew over the last several years, where we've had over 100 cartoonists travel to all the military hospitals. The USO picked us up. And so we're going overseas. Actually became one of the most popular celebrity visits. And we've had a chance to meet all of these great troops, including men and women who are, you know, horribly injured in our military hospitals. That became the genesis for the Waiakan Warrior Foundation, because you feel so compelled to help them get to the next step. When you talk to them, they don't want to quit. They want to keep going. They want to continue to contribute. Yeah, I'm missing a couple legs, but I'm training for a marathon. Yeah, I'm missing a hand, but let me shake your hand with my prosthetic. One of them said, my rodeo days may be over, because he'd been a rodeo cowboy, but my living days aren't. And he was running on his prosthetic. That's what started the, that was really the genesis of the Waiakan Warrior Foundation to help them, high school kids, pretty much get to the next level and get a job where they can have a career, a good career, and they're well connected and all that. But the question is about the cartoon trips. Those of you in the military, when you go someplace with the military, you have op orders. You have people running the show. This is what we're going to do. Everybody be here at 6.30 a.m. That's what's going to happen. Doesn't work that way with cartoonists. Cartoonists forget their passports. They lose their tickets somewhere between Kuwait and London. They told us when you get to the gate in Germany, don't tell them that you're going to Iraq. Tell them you're just going to go to Kuwait. So the cartoon, I remember one of the cartoonists does Mother Goose and Grim, Mike Peters. He was at the counter, and all of us had kind of gone through the whole thing where I'm going to Kuwait on vacation. Okay, then step aside. Mike Peters came up to the counter and he said, I'm going to Kuwait on vacation. I didn't tell him. So he got frisked. But it's been great to watch the interaction between the cartoonists and the troops. We spend 15 minutes with each troop drawing all these goofy pictures of them. And it's been a great relationship. Yes, ma'am. Sir, my name is Patricia Ahoy with the Naval Staff College Class 80. Thank you for your presentation and thank you for letting us use one of your drawings in the student journal, Lucent. Yeah, I never got paid for that. Which of your drawings elicited the greatest response from your readers? Oh, that's easy. That's easy. The reserve cartoon. I did a cartoon about, thank you for the question, about reservists. It was a typical reserve officer check-in. And the reservist was checking in saying, hey, can I call you Bob, you know, to the CO and CO saying, no, I'm really looking forward to the next meeting, what we call that, quarters, you know, that kind of thing. And I got over 100 letters of complaint to Navy Times. The editor of Navy Times, who now is the managing editor of all of the Military Times papers, still has that cartoon. He said that was one that got the most response by far in the other cartoon. I did do one about chiefs in the training, see, training table in the chief's mess, chief petty officer's mess. And it was an overweight chief petty officer eating pizza, smoking a cigarette. And I got two personal letters at my house from two, from, and this is back in the day before, you know, going online and finding addresses. I don't know how they even found me, but they at my house and they said, don't let us find you out in town. Those. Yes, sir. Your cartoons are fantastic, as is the work you do beyond cartooning. I thank you for that. My question refers to, could you tell us about that one cartoon that you had published that you would have preferred not to have published? Oh boy, I could tell you about a couple of cartoons that never got published. I don't know if I have, there's been a couple of them that you do the cartoon and they just turn out, you know, at three o'clock in the morning, you're doing the cartoon. You think, well, that's kind of funny. I think that's pretty funny. It gets published. You look at it. That wasn't funny at all. That didn't work. So there's been a few like that. But, you know, politically or something like that, I haven't, I've been lucky. I haven't had any real bad ones. There have been a couple of times where you'll do a cartoon and military life being military life, something happens that makes the cartoon suddenly inappropriate. You know, some of you do, you're making fun of aviators and there've been a big accident or something like that. And the editors have been very good about calling me up and saying, hey, this is breaking news. We need to get another cartoon right away. So I've been kind of lucky along those lines. I will tell you one that didn't get published, though, that I thought was one of the funniest ones I ever did. And they wouldn't do it. It was, you know, the blow up, not the blow up, the, sorry, you see where this cartoon's going already, can't you? The CPR dummies, you know, the CPR dummies where you practice the, well, there's one where there's a guy that was doing the CPR dummy and the instructor was saying, okay, that's enough, you know, drills over, John. And the caption was something like, it soon became obvious that his attraction to the dummy went way beyond professional interest or something like that. And I always thought that was a funny one, but that one didn't get published. And probably rightly so. You guys have any ideas for some cartoons? I'll be happy to take, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well, the best cartoons, the question is, what was the process? And I wish I knew, you know, I could really define it. What I usually do, I only have to do a weekly cartoon. And the deadline is Wednesday, so Tuesday is when I pretty much am doing the cartoons. The best cartoons are when I get a chance to go out with the Navy or the Marine Corps and operate with them a little bit, operate, watch them a little bit. While they operate. That's when I get some really good ones. Because it's, the humor is real and it's raw and everybody can kind of understand it. I was out on the Bonhomme, it's Peleliu, I was out on Peleliu for a week. And there was a young Marine that was hunting, it was running, you know, some, it was a SOC X, they were running an exercise. And this was a group that was doing, I think it was logistics or something like that. He started the meeting by saying, well, things didn't go well, but the glass is one-eighth full. So I just, I thought that was just perfect. And so I did, so the cartoon I did was that. It was him just saying that. And so those are the best, that process is easy because when you get a good idea, then you can't wait to get on, get it down on a piece of paper and figuring out how you're going to, how to draw it. Sometimes I just, I'll just sit there and I'll kind of randomly go through the different communities in the military and think, well, who haven't I slammed on for a while? It seems like the supply guys get it a little bit more often than everybody else. But I've had a couple of complaints, but I did go to a supply core convention last year. And that was great because all the supply cartoons, I was just brutal with them. And, and, and I thought, well, hey, you guys invited me. So that's why I'm here. Yeah, that's right. That's about right. All right. Well, oh, yes, ma'am. What's your favorite cartoon about inter-service rivalry? I have one of yours in mind. That's my favorite, but what's yours? Uh, which one do you have in mind? One about, um, the, uh, uh, the chief's mess where, uh, there are, uh, sweating, uh, marines and army, uh, troops in the desert sweating and the, some, and the, uh, someone says, chief, turn up the air conditioning. Yeah, well, I, there's a, there's one, uh, uh, has anybody ever met Colonel David Sutherland? He's one of the heroes of, uh, the surge in Iraq, uh, army guy. He looks, he looks, looks and sounds like Patton and, uh, he knows I'm a Navy guy. So he's pretty brutal when it comes back to Navy guys, but he, but he always says that he was, he remembers times when he was stuck with the, the, with the Navy and the Navy would disappear kind of like all like Guadalcanal kind of thing because they ran out of ice cream, the Navy guys did. And, uh, so I did a cartoon of some army guys stuck on the shore where he said the Navy left, they, they ran out of ice cream. So that was, that's, I guess kind of goes along those lines. Um, there's been other ones. Uh, I, I haven't, uh, I haven't attacked the inner service thing as much as I should, uh, but there's a lot of right material in there. And now I know we've had 70% of the student body been international officers. I think that opens up to the world now. So yes, sir. Apparently, um, you've worked at this and you are quite successful in it. But when did you get your first break as a cartoonist? Um, it was in 1986. And, um, before, uh, I was published in Navy times, uh, I was, uh, standing at 12 hour brutal watch in, uh, Monterey, California. And, uh, the, uh, the, uh, Naval postgraduate school had just decided they wanted to open up their paper a little bit to some cartoonists. So I thought, okay, so I sent him some cartoons. They were horrible cartoons, but they published the cartoons, which, you know, with like anything, you get some encouragement, you keep, you know, keep going. So, uh, that was what encouraged me then to, I sent one, uh, to the pine cone when, uh, Clint Eastwood was running for mayor. Pine cone is a little paper in Carmel. Clint Eastwood was running for mayor because the rule was you couldn't eat an ice cream cones on the sidewalk in Carmel. So Clint Eastwood ran for mayor to fix that. And, uh, so I did a cartoon about him and the political thing and they published that for free. And, uh, and so I thought, okay, well, then I'll send some to Navy times. And that's when it all happened. And I sent in six cartoons, they bought four of them. And, uh, if you've ever seen the first four cartoons they published, I have no idea what they saw in those things. They weren't funny or well drawn, but it was, uh, it was really my first break. And, and then it was kind of weird, you know, I was on active duty. So I just send them some more cartoons. They'd buy some more of them. They, they, I'd send them six, they'd buy four. I'd send them four, they'd buy three. So it didn't take me long to feel like, realize I'll just send them one and then it's much more efficient that way. So I just sent them, uh, and eventually they said, let's do it weekly and give it the name and we're off and running. Yes, sir. It's, uh, it's amazing how the humor stays so constant. It's always about food. It's about your officers, uh, clueless officers, uh, mean chiefs, um, uh, just, you know, horrible conditions, whatever. It's the same, same types of, uh, of humor and that's ageless. Um, the, when it comes to World War II cartoons, I've seen cartoon, uh, some World War II cartoonists, uh, and I guess, you know, Bill Mauldin being the most famous one. I've read a couple of his books. He's, uh, he's one that every kind of aspires to be, but could never, never achieve. Um, but I've had some, some opportunities to go to the Navy History Museum or Navy Art Gallery, those kinds of places and see some of that, that art and it's fantastic. It's just, it's, it's that insider humor, I think that what appeals to everybody and, and they certainly had it. Yes. Yeah, that, uh, that Facebook thing is really something, isn't it? Uh, yeah, the, the, uh, that's a big topic of discussion in the cartoon world because papers are eliminating cartoons. Um, because they found out, well, I can just contract out, instead of having a staff cartoonist, I can just purchase these cartoons. And then they started shrinking the cartoons down and as their subscriptions declined, they started looking for people they can, where the people, places they can save some money, they take out the cartoons. So, in the cartoon world, they're all, they're all panicked. Um, so then the answer is, okay, we gotta go to the social media sites, we have to go to the internet. Well, how do you make money selling cartoons on the internet? It's much more difficult for the cartoonist. So, I don't think it's been resolved yet, but, um, I think the consensus is that the humor, um, is still desired. It's the medium to get that humor to, to the people that is the, the big question mark. And then once removed from that is cartoonists who need to make a living doing that need to somehow figure out a way to make money to do it. So, it's, it's a big challenge right now. But there's more and more stuff. I mean, everybody's online, everybody's doing stuff online now. But, uh, the guys who really are the successful ones are still in the printed papers. Yes, sir? Jeff, you do a lot of cartoons while you're on active duty. How did that impact your relationship with the seniors and the juniors? Did you ever get any pushback? Got a little bit of pushback. Yes, sir. There's been, uh, I think my favorite story was, uh, when I first started doing this, I did a cartoon about oceanographers. I was, I was a brand new oceanographer. And it was about, uh, giving a forecast. And I had no idea what, this was when I was in Monterey. They had us, I had no training. I had Latin American studies degree in college. And now I'm an oceanographer. And with no training. So, they said, okay, Bacon, you're gonna give the forecast now for the, uh, for the captain. Well, how am I supposed to do that? Well, so I had a first class petty officer write down, you say these things. So, I, I did the forecast and I just said these things. And I said it was gonna be a nice clear day. And the, and the captain said, you know, it's raining outside. That was my, my first forecast. So, I did a cartoon about that of a guy not, say, well, let's see, there's some squiggly lines here. And there's some, um, and the oceanographer at the time, not Admiral West. Was, uh, very upset about that. And wanted to know who this guy was because heads are gonna roll. Well, he didn't know I was an oceanographer. A few months later, he pinned on a Navy achievement medal on my chest. Not making the connection. But I knew him and I heard the word. I got word from his staff that this guy's looking for you. So, keep a low profile. So, that was one of my proudest moments, quite honestly. But, uh, and I've had a couple times some, some, uh, some of my bosses have said, uh, you shouldn't do that cartoon. But, uh, very rarely. I mean, Navy's been very good about, about letting me, you know, giving me enough, uh, flexibility to do what I need to do. Yes, sir. Well, Admiral, when I first started this, uh, I had no idea. How do you come up with ideas? You know, I didn't know how this worked. And so, guys would come in my office and tell me jokes. And I, some of those would turn into cartoons. I did one about, uh, a guy told me this great story about a ballistic missile submarine coming up and saying, okay, we're all going to get a chance to look out the periscope and see the familiar skyline of either Buenos Aires or New York. And, uh, I thought that's a pretty funny cartoon. So, I did that. And, uh, and then I started getting a bunch of emails, or not emails, but letters, uh, and phone calls because apparently that was word for word from a Bob Newhart comedy album. So, that's when I, and I had to write personal letters to everybody saying, look, I, you know, the guy came to my office, gave me the car, you know, it's not my fault. Um, and, uh, that's when I kind of said, I'm going to probably kind of keep away from the unsolicited ideas because usually what happens, people don't mean to do it. They just, they've heard a joke, they pass it along, and some, you don't really know where that originated. So, usually what I try to do now is not do that and, and, uh, just try to observe and, uh, you know, hear a funny comment somebody says that is obviously, uh, just, you know, off the cuff that turns into a cartoon. That, that I'll still do. Is that, no? Yes, sir, sorry. Well, see, Rich is out. Um, the, uh, thing about cartooning is once you get past the whole, I can make a living at this, you get past all that, it's a great job. Um, no, I, I think, uh, I'm happy doing what I'm doing, quite frankly, and, uh, I think what's happening with me is kind of the personal journey everybody goes through and the cartoons are great, I love doing it, I love the Navy, I love the military, but my focus is starting to change now to the severely wounded and injured guys and, uh, probably to eventually include the families of Gold Star members, the fallen soldiers, uh, to help them get to that next level because, you know, at the end of the day, when you go home at night, you want to say, I'm, I'm still doing something, and to draw a cartoon, make people laugh, that's, that's something, but to help a young man or woman who's missing a couple of limbs get a job where they can, uh, you know, lead their communities, where they can have upward mobility, where they can, uh, continue to accomplish great things in life, that's when you're really doing something, and that's why I think that's where my emphasis, my career goals are going to go along those lines. Yes, sir? Has the Naval War College ever been a subject of one of your cartoons? Well, you saw the one about the, uh, uh, ethics, ethics? Well, when I knew I was coming here, I thought, I got to have a starting slide, so that was, uh, because that's what you do. You, you, you'd study leadership and ethics, so I thought that'd be a pretty funny one, um, but I'll, uh, I'll pick the brain of the admiral and, uh, see if we can get some good ones, give you some good inside humor. All right, well, thank you very much. It's been real enjoyable. So many levels. I'm proud to have Jeff Bacon up here. I, I think the young Naval Academy prep school question kind of summed it up. It was a perfect last question, but I think we all aspire to do something meaningful in our life, and then after one phase is over, what are we doing in the next phase that's meaningful? I know that people that work here at the Naval War College in retirement don't have that problem, but, uh, Jeff, like I said, I saw you as an ensign, you know, always caring about the troops, always trying to make people laugh, uh, and you've continued it. You're making us laugh, and you're doing important work, and I think you've served as an inspiration for me for 30 years. It'll be 30 years next month. Um, we would like to present you from the Naval War College. I'm a bit of a history. I think there's a slide that goes with this, right, so you all can see this. Uh, we got some incredibly talented people here. Gigi, there it is. That's what we're getting here. It's presented to Mr. Jeff Bacon on the occasion of your presentation to the U.S. Naval War College students, faculty, and friends, 13 March 2012, and what you can see there is, uh, loose haul. Uh, this is a piece of slate, the original roof of loose haul, which was recently renovated, and for, uh, we've got incredible Gigi and her team laser engraved loose haul on a shingle from loose haul, and the CB, is that a CB on a lawnmower there, Jeff? That's one of Jeff's, uh, cartoons. The ship there coming around the, uh, coming down Narragansett Bay is our first ship, USS Cook. We got Professor Kalora here was on that first deployment, one of our fearless helicopter pilots, landing a helicopter on the back of that ship in the North Pacific in winter. Uh, Dave Castile, where's Lieutenant Commander Castile? His father was our executive officer, put up with Bacon and, uh, and me and Kalora and the whole gang, but Jeff, it's been an honor to welcome you back. Uh, you're going to be a hero for getting us out of here 33 minutes early. Uh, yeah, round of applause from all the families. Thank you, Jeff. It's fantastic. Uh, Admiral, I've got something for you. Oh, no, this never happened. No, this is, uh, this is, uh, uh, challenge coin, uh, one of our, just got the first batch, translates into a beer somehow, and I'm not sure exactly. The Wycombe Warrior Foundation, we just started, uh, challenge coins, uh, and, uh, uh, this is from the inaugural batch of it, and I'd like to give that to you. Thank you, Jeff. I'll tell you the whole story about it later. Thank you. Final, final thank you. The Naval War College Foundation, uh, again, sponsored the event tonight. Uh, probably not surprising that the, the fee that Jeff, that our speakers usually get, has gone to the wounded warriors, and so I'd like to once again thank Peter and his team for their generosity, for giving the War College that edge, making this a special place to come. Uh, thank you all. Please drive safely tonight, and, uh, we'll see you at the next one. Thank you.