by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“Join the Navy and see the world.”
For years, that was the famous recruiting slogan that attracted young men and women into sea-going military service. The decision to pursue a career in the U.S. Navy offers the opportunity to travel the globe and meet people from all cultures and walks of life.
Many service members, particularly those who served in the Navy, make Jacksonville their home when they retire. Retired Navy Capt. Dan McCarthy, the City’s director of military affairs and chief of the Veterans Services Division, is one of them and pointed out he’s part of a large group of North Florida’s citizens.
“Only six-tenths of 1 percent of the American public as a whole serves in the armed forces but in Duval County, one person in four has served,” he said.
McCarthy began his career in Annapolis, Md. at the Naval Academy. But if Duke University Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski had been a little better recruiter, the Navy’s loss would have been Duke’s gain. Actually, McCarthy just put his arrival at Duke on hold for a few years until he went there to attend law school.
“Coach K – who is a West point graduate – told me I made a horrible decision on where to attend college, but fortunately I saved it with law school,” said McCarthy.
After law school, he joined Judge Advocate General’s Corps in 1993 and for five years worked in Washington, D.C. at the Pentagon where he was legal counsel to the Secretary of the Navy. While there, he met and became friends with the late U.S. Rep. Tillie Fowler, who would one day give McCarthy some advice that would lead him to retire from the Navy.
“I was transferred to Jacksonville in 1998 and became the Commanding Officer of the Navy’s trial services in the southeast. In 2002, I was nominated to be the Chief Prosecutor for the War on Terrorism military tribunals at Guantanamo. I went to Washington for a meeting with Secretary of State (Donald) Rumsfeld and while I was there I went to see Tillie Fowler.
“She advised me against taking the job because she said she didn’t think the legal community would accept the tribunals and that the process would take forever. It turned out she was right, but I knew I’d have to retire from the Navy if I turned down the appointment,” said McCarthy.
His first duty station as a retired naval officer was at Holland & Knight, where McCarthy specialized in issues associated with the Base Realignment and Closure program. When the 2003 City elections were coming up, he had an idea he shared with one of the mayoral candidates.
“I made an appointment and talked to John Peyton about ways to align the military community with the business of the City,” said McCarthy. “We had lunch on July 2, 2003, his first day in office, and he laid out his vision to enhance the City’s connection with the large military population.”
Since that day, the Veterans Services Division office at City Hall has seen thousands of Veterans walk in the door looking for assistance or advice.
In addition to helping file claims for disability and other benefits, the division’s staff also helps Veterans work within the system when their claims are denied. The office and the staff of 14 also assists veterans who want to take advantage of their GI Bill educational or mortgage loan program benefits.
In addition to providing services to former military personnel, the division also plans and executes special events that honor the military community each year. McCarthy said Jacksonville is home to the largest Veterans Day and Memorial Day parades in the state and has the largest Veterans Memorial Wall outside of Washington, D.C. The office also organizes homecoming celebrations for ship’s crews and squadrons and their families and also provides speakers for civic groups.
McCarthy said he will never forget the day the new mayor enlisted him in City service back in 2003. It was the first day of McCarthy’s third career following the Navy.
“Mayor Peyton said his aim was to make Jacksonville the most military-friendly city in America and I’m proud to have been given the opportunity to turn that vision into reality.”