Page 46 - Coespu Magazine 2017-2

U.S. ADMIRAL MICHELLE HOWARD VISITING CoESPU

On 4th April 2016, U.S. Admiral Michelle Howard, Commander of the Allied Joint Force
Command in Naples, of the U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and of the U.S. Naval Forces in
Africa visited the Carabinieri Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units (CoESPU).
Admiral Michelle Howard is a
1978 graduate of Gateway High
School in Aurora, Colorado. She
graduated from the United

States Naval Academy in 1982
and from the Army’s Command
and General Staff College in
1998, with a Masters in Military
Arts and Sciences.
Her initial sea tours were aboard
USS Hunley (AS 31) and USS

Lexington (AVT 16). While
Admiral Michelle Howard has been received by General Vincenzo serving aboard Lexington, she
Coppola, Carabinieri Deputy Commanding General received the secretary of the
Navy/Navy League Captain Winifred Collins award in May 1987. This award is given to
one woman officer a year for outstanding leadership. She reported to USS Mount Hood
(AE 29) as chief engineer in 1990 and served in Operations Desert Shield and Desert

Storm. She assumed duties as
first lieutenant on board the
USS Flint (AE 32) in July 1992.
In January 1996, she became the
executive officer of USS
Tortuga (LSD 46) and deployed
to the Adriatic in support of
Operation Joint Endeavor, a

Peacekeeping effort in the
former Republic of Yugoslavia.
Sixty days after returning from
the Mediterranean deployment,
Tortuga departed on a West
African training cruise, where ADM Howard in MaGISTrA Classroom

the ship’s Sailors, with embarked Marines and U.S. Coast Guard detachment, operated
with the naval services of seven African nations.
She took command of USS Rushmore (LSD 47) March 12, 1999, becoming the first African
American woman to command a ship in the U.S. Navy.

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