by Jen Myers

Growing up in Lowell’s Centralville neighborhood, the oldest of five kids, Mike Gilday never could have imagined where his life and career would take him.

“I graduated in the half of my class that made the upper half of the class possible, so it is not like you’ve got to be an all-star,” Gilday told Lowell High School’s U.S. Air Force Jr. ROTC cadets Wednesday afternoon. “You have to be a hard worker. You have to be somebody who hustles, puts their nose to the grindstone, and maybe wants to make a difference somewhere.”

Mike Gilday is retired U.S. Navy Admiral Michael Gilday, a 1985 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who earned the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal (four awards), Legion of Merit (three awards), Bronze Star, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat “V,” and the Combat Action Ribbon during his career.

He served as the 32nd Chief of Naval Operations from 2019-2023.

“I never thought I’d find myself in command of a ship,” Gilday said. “I never thought I would be working in the White House, flying on Air Force One, flying on Marine One, walking with the president, talking to the president, briefing the president.”

He said he was impressed to see so many students involved in Lowell High’s Jr. ROTC program.

“It really gives me a great feeling about the youth of America, the interest and direction that we are headed in and the fact that you all have some calling to serve – whatever that might be,” he said. “There are a thousand different things you can do in the military and you never know where it is going to take you.”

For Gilday, his Naval career took him to more than 70 nations doing work he found exceptionally rewarding.

“As a member of the armed services you’ll actually be an ambassador for the United States,” he said. “People don’t talk about that very much. When they think about the military they just think about the pointy end of the spear, but there are other aspects of the military where we help people and we change lives in a positive way forever.”

He recalled a conversation he had with then-First Lady Melania Trump that surprised her.

The Navy had just sent a hospital ship to South America. During its three-month deployment, Naval medical staff saw 75,000 patients – providing children with their first pair of eyeglasses or their first dental visit. For some patients it was the first time they saw a physician qualified to treat their medical needs, and many life-saving operations were conducted on that ship.

“I remember the First Lady being really struck by that because most Americans are not exposed to those things that the U.S. military can do in a humanitarian way or in a diplomatic way that really sets a very positive tone for our country,” Gilday said.

Gilday advised the students that opportunities in the U.S. military are plentiful, varied, and open to all.

“There are no limitations in the U.S. military,” he said. It doesn’t matter what your gender is, or your socioeconomic status, or whether you have a college degree. It doesn’t matter which god you choose to worship or whether you chose not to worship at all. It doesn’t matter what political party you are from; it doesn’t matter who you love, it doesn’t matter what your station in life has been. It is a clean sheet of paper, just like Lowell, Massachusetts – this is a blue-collar mill town with a bunch of ethnic groups that come together at Lowell High School and in the community – it is the same way in the Navy and in the other branches of the U.S. military. I was working with people, meeting people from every single zip code in the country and it was a remarkable experience for me.”

While he loved his military career, there were bad days just like in any job. But, when you are in the military the bad days are a bit more dangerous.

On February 18, 1991, then-Lt. Gilday was the tactical action officer on the USS Princeton when it hit two underwater mines of a string of 1,000 that had been placed in a 150 mile arc.

“I was scared,” Gilday said, recalling that at first, he thought the ship had been hit by a missile. No sailors were killed, but several were injured and the ship was damaged. There was no time for fear. He had a job to do.

Within 15 minutes, Gilday and his crew secured the ship, as well as its communications and combat systems and kept order until the ship could be towed out of the minefield 30 hours later.

When Gilday was chosen as the 32nd Chief of Naval Operations, retired Capt. Edward B. “Ted” Hontz, the commander of the Princeton during Operation Desert Storm, told the Navy Times:

“He was a wartime guy and did a superb job. He took care of his people, extremely professional. He was a calm, cool customer, and at the time — in my opinion as an officer at the end of my career — was … as cool a character as you can get, he’s so good.”

Gilday answered several questions from students about leadership and his leadership style.

A strong leader, Gilday said, is someone who connects on a personal level with those they are charged with leading, keeps their ego in check regardless of position, and displays professional competence and character.

He said when he was commanding a ship of 300 people, he got to know all of them and their spouses and their kids in an effort to form genuine personal relationships with his people and build trust.

“Without that kind of cohesion, a team cannot be successful,” Gilday added. “It can’t just be a bunch of people who care about themselves; it always comes down to a personal level of caring about people.”

When asked if he has any regrets, Gilday recalled a sailor stationed on the first ship he commanded. Gilday was not aware that the sailor had a substance abuse problem until it was too late – the man was driving drunk on the Pacific Coast Highway north of Los Angeles and caused an accident that left another person paralyzed and sent him to prison. Gilday said he wished he had known what that sailor was dealing with and that he could have helped him.

He explained that being professionally competent doesn’t mean you are never going to make a mistake, “it means that you are always trying to improve – that your desire is to be the best that you can be in whatever skill set you are in – that you want to be continuously learning. You want to be asking yourself what you can be doing to get better because people at the end of the day, particularly if you are in a tough spot, particularly if you are in combat, want to follow somebody who knows what they are doing.”

He advised the cadets to be self-aware and always be self-assessing and self-correcting and to maintain a strong character.

“You lie to your people once and they will never follow you again,” Gilday said.