The Admiral Is A Lady
Sally Brice-O’Hara joined the Coast Guard 31 years ago, thinking it would be a short ‘stint.’ Today she’s in charge of the Coasties’ operations in their biggest region
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Hawaii National Guard adjutant
general Maj. Gen. Robert Lee
describes Rear Adm. Sally
Brice-O’Hara as a ‘cool
professional’
Admiral at the helm! Hawaii’s Coast Guard has a new admiral at the helm and, for the first time in state history, the admiral is a lady.
Rear Adm. Sally Brice-O’Hara assumed command of the U.S. Coast Guard’s 14th District in May. Along with the two stars on her shoulders, she now also bears responsibility for the Coast Guard’s largest geographic area and one that is of vital strategic importance in the Pacific.
Coast Guard men and women are the quiet heroes who airlift people from sinking vessels. They fight drug smugglers and thwart terrorist threats. They protect our fisheries and promote boating safety and manage our waterways. For the Coast Guard, the nation’s fifth military service, it’s all in a day’s work.
Brice-O’Hara has been on the job for only two months, but Hawaii National Guard adjutant general Maj. Gen. Robert Lee already describes her as a “cool professional” who can more than handle this ‘round-the-clock, life-and-death business.
“She’s one of my critical homeland security partners,” says Lee, who also is civil defense director.
Recent events have highlighted the Coast Guard’s importance in an island state, Lee says. When the Koloko Dam broke, the Coast Guard was there to help with search efforts. When the Hawaii Air Ambulance was grounded, the service stepped in to fill the need.
“Those are just a few examples of where, when you need them, they are there,” Lee says.
Brice-O’Hara assumed command of the U.S. Coast
Guard’s 14th District in May
Brice-O’Hara’s role also steps far beyond Hawaii’s shores. Because of the Coast Guard’s nature, it is able to do some rapport-building in areas of the world where tensions are otherwise sky-high. Just one month after assuming command, Brice-O’Hara was in South Korea with the cutter Rush for exercises with the Korean, Japanese and Russian coast guards. On that patrol, the Rush also made an historic visit to China, becoming the first major cutter to visit that country since World War II.
Photographs of the South Korea events show Brice-O’Hara’s silver-hair bob in crowds dominated by men. Being a woman admiral did stir some interest, she says.
“Most of the countries don’t have women who have as high-level a position as I do, so there was a lot of interest from my counterparts about how the Coast Guard incorporates women ... I also found that the very junior women who were in, for the most part, administrative positions in the Korean Coast Guard had a lot of fascination with the fact that a woman had this key role in the United States, and I think they saw that as somewhat inspirational.”
Brice-O’Hara’s position does signal the first wave of a growing number of women in the Coast Guard. They make up 13 percent of the active force and account for one-third of those entering the Coast Guard Academy.
While Brice-O’Hara’s leadership does signal a sea change in the guard’s demographics, her boss is quick to note that her gender is irrelevant in her career success.
“She’s where she is because she’s earned it,” says Vice Adm. Charles Wurster, who previously led the 14th District and is now the Pacific-area commander based in California.
Brice-O’Hara grew up in the Navy town of Annapolis, Md., where she became familiar with the Coast Guard through her father’s work with the Navy League. She actually started her career as a social worker, dealing with juveniles in the court system. She quickly decided that that job didn’t enable her to make enough of a difference.
Uncertain what she was going to do instead, Brice-O’Hara decided to try a “stint” in the Coast Guard. A person with strong ideals, she was drawn in part by the service’s humanitarian slant. She entered the 216-year-old service just as it was beginning to open its doors to women.
Venturing into the male-dominated field did have its challenges.
“I was at units that had not had women before, and the guys were not quite sure how to interact and how to follow what women were telling them to do, so yes, there were some barriers,” Brice-O’Hara says. “But what I found was that you demonstrate your capabilities, you perform well, you work hard and then everyone sees that you are a vital component and that you can all live together.”
And the challenges didn’t stop Brice-O’Hara from rising through the ranks.
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