Shipmate - March/April 2025

This feature spotlights the extraordinary things being done by alumni in the Navy and Marine Corps and their unique, impactful achievements in the private sector and in their communities. Please send suggestions to jimmy.debutts@usna.com.

Rear Admiral Eileen Laubacher ’90, USNR (Ret.), was inspired to a life of service by her father, Vice Admiral Michael Haskins ’66, USN (Ret.).

As a toddler, she would march to the sound of parade music coming from the U.S. Naval Academy from the family’s apartment on Perry Circle. Laubacher followed her father’s path to the Naval Academy and into the Navy. Neither was bold enough to harbor aspirations of making flag rank. But, in 2018, Laubacher joined her father as an admiral. That promotion put their family in an exclusive club as the first Naval Academy father and daughter to reach flag rank.

During his career, Haskins had nine operational commands, served as the 74th Commandant of Midshipmen at the Academy, and retired as the Naval Inspector General. After retirement, he served as the Distinguished Chair of Leadership and the director of the VADM Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at the Naval Academy until July 2007.~

Laubacher served as an intelligence officer and transitioned to the Navy Reserve in 1998. She mobilized to a Special Operations Joint Task Force in Afghanistan in 2009 to support Operation Enduring Freedom as the officer in charge of the Operational Coordination Group. Laubacher held three commands, and her flag tours were as the Senior Defense Official and Defense Attache to India, and the special assistant to the president and senior director for South Asia at the National Security Council.

The father-daughter admirals recently shared some of their story with Shipmate.

Shipmate: What does your shared connection to the Naval Academy mean to you?

VADM Haskins: You have a father-daughter relationship, but this bonds you even more. This is unique.

RADM Laubacher: I always looked at his life of service, his devotion to our country. He made that look, not as a sacrifice, but something that gave him fulfillment and joy. That appealed to me and made me think that was the way I wanted to spend my life.

He has always been a North Star for me. He was very inspiring.

Shipmate: You are part of an exclusive Naval Academy alumni club as a father and daughter who achieved flag rank, was that ever an aspiration for you?

RADM Laubacher: This is not a club that we ever aspired to join. I always felt, I got this from dad (and his personal humility), that if you work really hard and you do your best, you can be a commander. If you’re your best self, you can kind of control your destiny to become a commander. … If you do all of that and you’re really lucky, you can become a captain. To become an admiral, it’s all of that plus a little bit of fairy dust. There are a lot of people that could be selected for admiral, but it has more to do with what the Navy needs at that time. …

The point is, you’re entrusted with this tremendous amount of responsibility. They trust you because you can make decisions, you know who to call and you know what questions to ask. You know how to drive things past the point where others can’t. You can influence things. As long as you don’t do anything that’s illegal, immoral or unethical, the sky’s the limit.

VADM Haskins: It didn’t even strike me until I was a very senior captain, and I was Commandant of Midshipmen. You cannot even want it. Unless you want to be tremendously disappointed, you don’t think about it. Your odds are almost zero.

I’ve seen some, when they become admirals become very cautious because they want to go from one star to two stars. From my perspective, if they want to fire me at any time and tell me that’s as far as you’re going to go, great, I’ve had the time of my life. When you become a flag officer, the opportunities you have to do good for your people and your country are incredible. You’re given an opportunity to actually make things better.

Shipmate: What advice would you give current midshipmen before they commission into the Fleet/Marine Corps?

RADM Laubacher: You are embarking on an amazing adventure. You should lean into that, take advantage of every opportunity, and walk through every open door. You should find ways to say yes to the things the Navy is asking you to do. Then, find ways to use all those opportunities to fully make yourself the best you, you can be.

VADM Haskins: Honor is the most important thing. It is the one thing you have that nobody can touch except you. As a naval officer, you need to keep that in mind. There is no deviation.