Honoring Doug Wilson
On this sunny spring afternoon in Washington D.C., the Pentagon held a simple and moving retirement ceremony for outgoing Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Douglas B. Wilson. Headliners included Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Benjamin Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications at the White House.
Secretary Panetta described Doug's job as one of the "toughest in the building" and underscored a few of Doug's major contributions to the department and our country. The Secretary was in fine form, and with just the right mix of seriousness and good humor, honored this good and accomplished man. It was clear there was tremendous respect and affection between these two professionals. I was also struck by Secretary Panetta mentioning Doug's partner, Tom - not once - but several times during his remarks at the ceremony.
Doug, in his clear but understated fashion, thanked several of his colleagues and coworkers and friends (giving a nice shout out to Sue Fulton at OutServe, Jonathan Lee at DOD, Navy Captain John Kirby in his department, and me). Clearly, Doug takes a great deal of pride in his work around repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and he should; but I think Doug is proud of all the work he did at the department in behalf of all service members and their families. His team of 4,000 professionals communicated to the world what our armed forces were doing, whether it be how we were waging two wars or outlining to the American people and Congress a new defense strategy for the future. Doug was always about representing the service members and their work, determined to put their service, sacrifice and stories above all.
We owe Doug Wilson a great deal of thanks for his extraordinary service. I am proud of Doug and his work and honored that I had a chance to work with him these past two years.
03-29-12 By Aubrey Sarvis, Army Veteran & SLDN Executive Director |
