Navy civilian keeps spirits high aboard ship

ABOARD THE USS CONSTELLATION - Mike Cronin, the only civilian among the managers keeping this city on the sea running day in and day out, can't seem to get enough of sailors.

Cronin, director of morale, welfare and recreation aboard the Constellation, retired from the Navy in 2000 after 21 sea tours in 35 years and achieving the Navy's top enlisted rank on a carrier-command master chief petty officer. Now, as the Constellation grinds through the Persian Gulf awaiting war with Iraq, Cronin finds himself back at sea. But this time, instead of his own stateroom and sailors saluting him, he is in a small office in the bowels of the ship, sharing a bunking area with junior officers.

"I didn't want to retire but the law said I had to. Otherwise, I'd still be in uniform," said Cronin, who now dresses in khaki pants and golf shirts but still has a large tattoo on his left forearm that hints at his days as a sailor. There are 17 division heads on the Constellation, overseeing everything from air operations to chapel services, but only one-Cronin-is a civilian. Indeed there are only about a dozen civilians on board, including contractors and instructors for college courses.

Cronin said he took a year off after retiring from the Navy, but as a graying Baby Boomer with only one employer on his resume, he had few job opportunities. "I was only 53 years old and still felt I had a lot to give," said Cronin. His chance to give back came over coffee one morning with the then-master command chief of the Constellation, who told him he had an opening for a director of recreation, morale and welfare, and wanted to bring Cronin aboard.

Cronin did not have to be asked twice about taking the job, and his wife, who knew how tough it was for him to retire, didn't stand in his way. "It was nice not having to wake up and be responsible, but it's very hard to adjust to after a lifestyle where everything is planned for you," he said.

Now, three years after retiring, Cronin is on his second deployment as a Navy civilian overseeing 11 sailors who are responsible for keeping the Constellation's 5,000 sailors happy at sea and away from the bars when they pull into port. Once sailing, Cronin's main job is ensuring the $1 million worth of weightlifting equipment spread over the 1,047-foot ship's four gyms is working properly. Cronin also rents out movies and sets up basketball hoops for the rare occasion when the ship's hangar is clear. He awards prizes in various tournaments for games like chess and Dungeons and Dragons. During the Super Bowl weekend in January, he worked 36 hours straight ensuring big screens and plenty of food were in place so sailors could watch the game live.

Cronin's busiest days are those before the ship makes port visits. He flies off the carrier a few days earlier to arrange hotel accommodations, tours and other events for sailors when they stop in foreign ports. "I am trying to give them alternatives to getting drunk at the bar and acting stupid," said Cronin, adding that tours and ticket fares are discounted with profits earned by the ship's store.

Cronin said it's not a challenge being a civilian manager among a uniformed leadership team. Instead, he said, it's hard not to slip back into his days as one of the Navy's top sailors. He still reminds himself not to tell a sailor to tuck in his uniform or to order someone to clean up a dirty passageway. "I certainly can relate to sailors; I've been around them 35 years," he added.

Cronin, who is paid the equivalent of a GS-11 salary out of the ship's nonappropriated funds, is not sure what he'll do when the Constellation is retired this summer. But he recalled the conversation he had with the Constellation's current skipper Capt. John Miller, when he came back aboard. Miller, who had known Cronin during his Navy days, told him, "I just knew if you could come back to sea, you would." And nobody is betting Cronin won't find a way to make it back again.