Jack Taylor is MMA's Maritime Person of the Year
Maritime Person of the Year award presented to Mr. Jack Taylor (MMA '80), Director of Military Sealift Fleet Support Command on National Maritime Day at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzard's Bay, MA.
May 21 2008 (Buzzard's Bay, MA): Under a beautiful Cape Cod Blue sky and with the Mass. Maritime Academy cadet regiment in attendance sporting sharp black and white uniforms, the celebration of our nation's maritime heritage on the campus of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy was highlighted by the presentation of the Maritime Person of the Year award to Mr. Jack Taylor (MMA '80), Director of Military Sealift Fleet Support Command. The ceremony also included the regimental change of command where the graduating class of 2008 was relieved of their regimental leadership duties and the ringing of eight bells in solemn remembrance of those mariners who have "crossed the bar" and have been relieved of their earthly watch responsibilities.
As Director of Military Sealift Fleet Support Command's Fleet Support Unit, Taylor is responsible for forty ships that directly support our sailors, soldiers and marines around the world. A 1980 graduate of Mass. Maritime, Taylor has worked ashore and afloat, in the private and public sector, in nuclear power plants, and in engine rooms and board rooms.
In his remarks to the gathered audience, Taylor said that today's Military Sealift Command administers the world's largest pool of U.S. Coast Guard documented merchant mariners; an organization with over 5,100 civil service seagoing employees of the federal government. He also stressed that American merchant mariners have served in every conflict and continue to do so today.
Taylor went on to say, "From Operation Desert Storm to Operation Iraqi Freedom, from tsunami relief in Indonesia to hurricane relief in Louisiana -- America's merchant mariners, and more specifically those sailing for MSC, continue to serve at the leading edge of our defense transportation system, carrying the combat equipment and supplies needed by our armed forces in the continuing war against terrorism and providing the hope needed by citizens around the world."
Taylor finished his talk by thanking Admiral Gurnon, President of Mass. Maritime, but left no doubt that his Mariner of the Year Award belongs to all at MSC, most importantly to MSC mariners, and future mariners.
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