In 2010, Vice Admiral Anthony Winns was featured on the cover of US Black Engineer (USBE) magazine. A distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Winns was the first officer in his Naval Academy class to select for flag rank.
He won the Black Engineer Career Achievement in Government Award at the 2007 BEYA STEM Conference.
In the same 2010 edition, USBE magazine reflected on the history of the annual Stars and Stripes event at BEYA.
The legendary story of BEYA Stars and Stripes follows a group of military veterans who work to support their services, national defense, and the people who make it all possible. Even as they stepped away from active duty, their commitment to service remained.
The initial BEYA Stars and Stripes Alumni Committee was composed of several notable members: General Johnnie Wilson, who served as the inaugural chairman; General Lester Lyles; Lieutenant General Joe Ballard; Al Edmonds; and Vice Admiral Walter Davis, who also co-chaired the 2010 Stars and Stripes event.
Additional members included Rear Admiral Stephen Rochon and Bill Brown, a member of the federal senior executive service, along with Tyrone Taborn, CEO of Career Communications Group and chairman of the BEYA STEM Conference.
Since its inception in 1986 during Black History Month, the BEYA STEM Conference has welcomed numerous active-duty officers from the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps. Additionally, uniformed officers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Public Health Service have also attended the conference.
For BEYA's 10th anniversary conference, Lieutenant General Albert J. Edmonds was featured on the cover of USBE magazine's 10th annual BEYA STEM Conference edition.
Edmonds had been recognized for his service as director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, overseeing all military communications networks, managing emergency communications for civilian disaster-response programs, and making sure the White House can talk to the world.
A Morris Brown College chemistry graduate with a master's degree in counselling psychology from Hampton University, Edmonds completed the Air War College as a distinguished graduate in 1980 and Harvard's national security program for senior officials in 1987. He spent his entire career in military communications before being appointed head of the Defense Information Systems Agency. Morris Brown is the first educational institution in Georgia to be owned and operated entirely by African Americans.
Hampton University has a long-standing Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program with a history of commissioning 12 general officers, including the Commander of U.S. Forces Korea and the Adjutant General of Maryland. The program has been active since 1919 and continues to train future military leaders through its rigorous courses and experiences.
In 1998, the BEYA STEM Conference honored Lt. Gen. Joe N. Ballard as the top engineer of the year. Then, as the chief of engineers and commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, he had achieved his goals as a career soldier who had served two tours in Vietnam. was an executive officer for paratroops, worked in Korea and Western Europe, and worked to have the Corps front and center when plans are made to deploy U.S. forces abroad.
Like Edmonds, Ballard also graduated from a historically Black college and university (HBCU). Ballard completed his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Southern University and was commissioned into the Corps. In addition to his master's degree in engineering management from the University of Missouri, he graduated from the Engineer Officer Basic and Advanced courses, the Army Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College. He was a combat soldier and a registered professional civil engineer.
More recently, Lt. Gen. Bruce T. Crawford was named the 34th Engineer of the Year in 2020 by BEYA. The man who rose to be chief information officer-G6 of the United States Army and managed he world's largest information technology enterprise from the Pentagon, the headquarters building of the U.S. Department of Defense, graduated from South Carolina State University. SCSU boasts several graduates who have achieved the rank of general officer, with seventeen of them commissioned through the Army ROTC program.
For more than 20 years, the end-of-year issue of USBE magazine has highlighted groundbreaking general officers.
For more than 20 years, the end-of-year issue of USBE magazine has highlighted groundbreaking general officers.
In the 2006 edition, there was Brig. General Robert Crear. He led disaster recovery throughout Mississippi and Louisiana as commander of the Mississippi Valley Division of the Army Corps of Engineers. In his last assignment as MVD Commander and President of the Mississippi River Commission, Crear was responsible for a $7.5 billion civil works program. In addition, he played a vital role in managing the Corps' water resources program in the entire Mississippi River Valley.
Crear also held the position of Distinguished Visiting Lecturer of Applied Engineering, National Security and Homeland Security at Jackson State University, his alma mater. He is a 2016 Jackson State University Army ROTC Hall of Fame Inductee.
In 2007, USBE's end-of-year edition featured Vice Admiral Melvin G. Williams Jr, deputy commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command. Williams saw his first submarine when he was a third grader, and he was hooked ever since.
He also heard lots of sea stories from his father, an enlisted sailor in the U.S. Navy's submarine force. For the admiral, his father, and the Golden Thirteen, the first African Americans to serve as naval officers, are some of the most memorable examples of people who have made significant contributions to military history.
To young Americans considering a career, the admiral's advice was simple:
"Service is an integral part of being American," he said. "I would encourage you to consider the right means and duration. That could include military service, other forms of public service. It could be two years or it could be a career."
USBE magazine was one of the first publications to profile Gen. William E. Ward as the first commander of AFRICOM, an administrative headquarters responsible for U.S. military relations with 53 African countries. Growing up in Baltimore, young Ward elected to stay in ROTC in his junior and senior years.
"The instructors in military science were folks I looked up to as successful men of character who had tremendous responsibilities. I said to myself, ' Wow! This is pretty neat!"
After he received his bachelor's degree from Morgan State University, one of his ROTC mentors told him the army would pay for his education over the next two years if he would go to West Point and teach. That sounded like a good idea to him. He also received a master's degree from Penn State on the U.S. Military Academy.
"I saw the military as an instrument of our government," Ward told USBE magazine. "That set the basis for having a positive experience, knowing the craft, having teammates work with you because of a common purpose and common vision, and knowing that success is measured in terms of human lives."
Since 1948, twelve graduates of Morgan State University Army ROTC have reached the ranks of General Officer in the United States military, including Ward.
On January 20, 2009, when President Barack Obama and his family arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, they were greeted by retired U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Stephen W. Rochon in his capacity as director of the executive residence and chief usher of the White House.
Rochon was the eighth person to hold the position and the first African American since 1866.
Rochon joined the Coast Guard in 1970 and became an ensign five years later. He earned a bachelor's degree from Xavier University in Louisiana and received the Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal. A strong advocate for historical preservation, the New Orleans native restored turn-of-the-century homes in his hometown following the hurricanes of 2005. Additionally, he co-produced a documentary that paid tribute to a heroic 19th-century all-Black lifesaving station located on the North Carolina coast.
In his assignment as the Air Force's ranking uniformed financial management officer, Lieutenant General Larry O. Spencer was responsible for planning and directing budgets that totaled over $161 billion annually. Gen. Spencer made a tremendous impact in the broader Air Force community.
As national president of the Air Force Cadet Officer Mentorship in Action Program, he led a team that was focused on retention, leadership development, and assisting ROTC cadets as they transitioned to active duty. Under his leadership, chapters across the country made a huge impact by participating in career days at Alabama State and Tuskegee universities and supporting inner city youth from St. Louis to Washington D.C.
In addition to serving as a mentor to 135 junior ROTC cadets, Gen. Spencer adopted cadets at a local school in his hometown, southeast Washington D.C. He also developed a plan to increase the recruitment of engineers at the BEYA STEM Conference.
In 2012, VADM Manson Brown said that anyone who seeks to join the Coast Guard should understand that Coast Guard service is more than just a job; it's a calling to serve.
"Based on my experiences coming out of Washington D.C., the Coast Guard is an engine of leadership for America, " he said. "Taking in America's sons and daughters and, when their service is over, returning them to society as capable and confident leaders. I encourage anyone who wants to make a positive difference and harness all of their God-given talent to consider he call to Coast Guard service."
In 2015, USBE magazine featured the Navy's first female four-star admiral, Michelle Howard. Five years later, legendary airman Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. made history when he was appointed the 22nd chief of staff in the United States Air Force.
USBE marked the 20th annual celebration of BEYA Stars & Stripes with the iconic photo of Admiral Linda L. Fagan, former commander of the U.S. Coast Guard, and Rear Admiral Zeita Merchant, commander of the Personnel Service Center. Merchant is the first female African-American to be appointed rear admiral lower half in Coast Guard history.