Russell L. Smith is a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

sailor who served as the 15th Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON). He was acting MCPON from June 22, 2018, when Steven S. Giordano resigned, to August 29, 2018, when he officially assumed the role.

Naval career

Smith is a graduate of the

United States Navy Senior Enlisted Academy The United States Navy Senior Enlisted Academy provides education and training for senior and master chief petty officers. Most of the students are active-duty U.S. Navy personnel. The remaining students are from the Navy Reserve, Air Force, Army ...

(Class 125/Blue) and the Command Master Chief/Chief of the Boat (CMC/COB) Course (Class 42) at the

Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associat ...

. Smith reported to Recruit Training Center San Diego, California, in September 1988, and began his career as a airman. He became a weapons technician in 1990, then converted to the

intelligence specialist Intelligence Specialist (IS) is a US Navy enlisted rating within the Information Warfare community. The Intelligence Specialist rating was established in 1975 by combining the Photographic Intelligenceman (PT) rating (first established in 1957) an ...

rating in 1993. He was selected for the command master chief program in 2007. Smith's sea duty assignments include ,

SEAL Team Four The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy, U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command, Naval Special Wa ...

, , two tours on , and as the command master chief on . Smith had six shipboard deployments to the western Pacific and Central Command

area of responsibility Area of responsibility (AOR) is a pre-defined geographic region assigned to Combatant commanders of the Unified Command Plan (UCP), that are used to define an area with specific geographic boundaries where they have the authority to plan and cond ...

in support of operations

Desert Storm The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

and Desert Fox, a 292-day deployment during operations

Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 at ...

and

Iraqi Freedom {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

, disaster relief operations in Indonesia and counter-piracy operations in the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

. He also served on numerous deployments and detachments while attached to

Naval Special Warfare The United States Naval Special Warfare Command (USNSWC), also known as (NAVSPECWARCOM and WARCOM), is the United States Navy, naval component of United States Special Operations Command, the Unified Combatant Command, unified command responsib ...

and

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, specializing in defense and military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the I ...

elements. Smith's shore tours include service as the operations non-commissioned officer at the United States Defense Attaché Office in Moscow, Russia; on the

Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the professional head of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the secretary of the Navy. In a separate capacity as a memb ...

' staff as the senior enlisted for the intelligence community; as the CMC for the

Office of Naval Intelligence The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the military intelligence agency of the United States Navy. Established in 1882 primarily to advance the Navy's modernization efforts, it is the oldest member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serves ...

; as the OPNAV Staff's command master chief in Washington, DC; as the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

's command master chief in Annapolis, and most recently as the fleet master chief, Manpower, Personnel, Training, and Education in January 2017. In February 2022, it was made public that Smith was under investigation by the

Naval Inspector General The Office of Naval Inspector General for the United States Department of the Navy was established during World War II to make investigations as directed by the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations. The current mission of the Na ...

for unspecified misconduct. On 22 April 2022, he visited the carrier after several crew members had committed suicide over the previous ten months, including three in one week earlier in the month. The ship has been at

Newport News Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

for a major mid-life overhaul since 2017, and many of the crew have reported life aboard the ship difficult due to the construction-like atmosphere, and the lengthy commute some of them must take daily. After meeting with the crew, several of them reported feeling unsatisfied with the responses from Smith to their concerns. He vacated the MCPON office on September 8, 2022 to Fleet Master Chief

James Honea James M. Honea is a United States Navy sailor serving as the 16th Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy since 8 September 2022. He was previously the Senior enlisted advisor, Senior Enlisted Leader of United States Indo-Pacific Command from Augu ...

Awards and decorations

*Eight gold

service stripe A service stripe is an embroidered diagonal stripe worn on the sleeve(s) of some military and paramilitary uniforms. In the case of the United States military, service stripes are authorized for wear by enlisted personnel on the lower part of the ...

s. *Smith received the Edwin T. Layton Leadership Award in fall of 2002 for leadership in the Intelligence Community.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Russell L. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Master Chief Petty Officers of the United States Navy Recipients of the Legion of Merit