Photo By Seaman Ryan Holloway | SOUTH CHINA SEA (July 6, 2024) U.S. Navy Capt. Lawrence Repass, commander, Destroyer...... read more read more
Forty-three years ago in Chicago, lived a young man named Lawrence (Larry) Repass. He was 19 years old and working at McDonald’s. One day while driving to work at 4 a.m. on a cold, rainy day, he realized he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life. He recalls hearing a commercial sponsored by the Navy that said ‘live the adventure’ and he thought to himself, ‘maybe that will give me some time and space to figure out what I want to do.’
It wasn’t even a few days later in 1981, Seaman Recruit Larry Repass found himself at boot camp enlisted in the U.S. Navy as an operations specialist. That day, some might say, fate and destiny aligned.
“When I joined the Navy, I had never physically seen salt water,” said Capt. Larry Repass, commodore of Commander, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 23. “Other than, you know, maybe two tablespoons of salt in a glass of water on the counter. When I went and spoke to a recruiter, they had saying called ‘kiss ‘em and ship ‘em’ – it wasn’t but 48 hours later that I was in boot camp.”
From never having seen the ocean, to spending a life time’s worth sailing through it, Repass has had quite a remarkable career. Not by his measure, but by those who worked for him and alongside him.
“One of the things that makes Captain Repass’ career so unique and extraordinary is the fact that he joined as an E-1 and now is a captain,” said Command Master Chief Jeanette Hafer, command master chief of DESRON 23. “I mean, that’s incredible. And what is really impressive is that he can literally speak to all of the different pay grades. Who else can do that right now? He can walk down to the mess decks and can talk to an E-1 because he was once that same kid. He can tell you what a chief petty officer is supposed to be doing because he was one. He loves to talk smack to the warrant officers because he was one, and he can walk right into the wardroom and talk to them because he’s now one of them. He can relate to so many people across all pay grades because he has been there and he has done that.”
His current boss, Rear Adm. Christopher Alexander, commander, Carrier Strike Group (CSG) Nine, attributes Repass’ success in large part due to his unrelenting passion he has for the Navy.
“His ability to adapt to all the change the Navy has experienced over the past four decades and still find success speaks to the fact that he really found his passion,” said Alexander. “He found his calling, he found something that he loves doing wholeheartedly. I really believe that the changes don’t feel like so much if you are doing something that you love, and Capt. Repass clearly loves what he does.”
When Repass first entered the Navy in 1981, he didn’t even have a high school diploma. At his first command, he would earn his GED. Later, he would go on to earn his Bachelor of Science degree from Hawaii Pacific University, where he was the top graduate in his class in 2006. Following that he would go on to earn his Master of Science in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey, California.
Despite all of his incredible personal accolades and accomplishments, when asked about his greatest achievements throughout such an illustrious career, his answers always defer to the success of those around him.
“My most rewarding experiences have always been the same,” said Repass. “It’s when the people that work for me, or with me, succeed. What I’m really most proud of are my unit awards. I’ve got a stack of Battle ‘E’s.’ I never went to a command or been in command of a unit and not won a Battle ‘E.’ I take a lot of pride in that. Why? Because that means the team succeeded.”
After 43 years in the Navy, Repass has amassed an abundance of sea stories and words of wisdom for which he is infamous for sharing when his team needs to hear them the most.
“One of my favorite quotes from him is ‘when people are concerned about you, it’s time for you to get concerned about you,’” said Hafer. “In his own special way, because he is gruff, it just shows he truly cares about the team, and he cares about the Sailors.”
Lt. Cmdr. Jason Vedder, Theodore Roosevelt’s combat systems information officer who has worked with Repass at DESRON 23 and now aboard Theodore Roosevelt, shares Hafer’s admiration for Repass’ ability to put things into perspective with notorious, well-timed words of wisdom.
“We had a quote book that we kept in the office for anything that came up in conversation, and absolutely Capt. Repass had the most quotes in there,” said Vedder. “They range from random quotes to quotes we’ve actually made patches out of. One of my favorite quotes from him is, ‘sometimes you get the shaft, and sometimes you get the elevator.’ I think he said that after we got called back out to sea and missed out on a 96-hour liberty. The quote was just so well timed and exactly what the team needed to hear in that moment.”
Repass has commanded three ships during his time in the Navy to include two littoral combat ships – USS Independence (LCS 6) and USS Coronado (LCS 4) – and the guided-missile destroyer USS Prebble (DDG 88). Currently, he commands DESRON 23 where he is responsible for four total ships in CSG-9. These experiences have kept him coming back to serve again and again for the same reason.
“Leading and inspiring teams to success,” said Repass. “That’s the job, and there is nothing else like it anywhere else in the world. Nobody else is going to let you do it like the Navy will. Ships don’t do anything; they’re inanimate objects. Ships are the people. If you train, educate and ensure the success of the Sailors… well, there’s no better experience in the world.”
Repass’ drive and merciless pursuit of team success doesn’t come without great personal sacrifice – being separated from the people he loves most in this world. He is married to his wife of 27 years with whom he shares a son. At the end of the day, his call to duty starts and stops with them.
“I got married 27 years ago to my wife when I was still a chief,” said Repass. “Later on, after I got my degree, I considered getting out and going to do something else. I took some job interviews and considered getting out, but for the benefit of my family, staying Navy by far was the most attractive option. They offered the most opportunities for myself and my family. Being an officer in the Navy is a very difficult job I don’t want to short sell that. The Navy asks us to make difficult, sometimes emotional gut-wrenching decisions that require superb judgement… this is a physically and emotionally exhausting job. But being married to my wife kind of made it all worth it because not under God’s green earth could I do this job without her”
Quantifying the amount of people Repass has touched, led or worked with seems almost impossible. Even figuring out the sheer number of uniform changes he’s experienced in his storied career is quite the daunting task. Unearthing what has driven him to serve his country and our Navy honorably for these past 43 years, well, that’s easy. Talk to him for 30 seconds, listen to his love for the Navy pour out, and relish in the presence of a man who found his calling in life.
| Date Taken: | 09.30.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.30.2024 03:44 |
| Story ID: | 482060 |
| Location: | PACIFIC OCEAN |
| Web Views: | 1,242 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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