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MCPON Duane R. Bushey

Seventh Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Sept. 9, 1988 to Aug. 28, 1992

Portrait of MCPON Duane R. Bushey

NHHC Collection Photo # L38-11.05.01. Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Duane R. Bushey. Download image.

Duane R. Bushey was born in New Hampshire. Following graduation from Wicomico Senior High School in Maryland, he enlisted in the Navy in June 1962.

Master Chief Bushey received recruit training at the Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois, and completed Aviation Electrician “A” school in Jacksonville, Florida. He first saw duty at the naval Air Test Facility at the Naval Air Station in Patuxent River, Maryland, followed by further technical training in an advanced electronics “B” school. He then served on board the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge (CVS-33), with two follow-on tours as a flight instructor for fleet replacement navigators with Heavy Attack Squadron One Twenty-Three (VAH-123) at the Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island, Washington and Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron One Thirty (VAQ-130) at the Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, where he served as Celestial and Radar Navigation Instructor.

Master Chief Bushey then served as the Assistant Aircrew Division Officer for the Aircraft Ferry Squadron Thirty One (VRF-31) in Norfolk, Virginia. While serving with VRF-31, he qualified as an overwater navigator in several aircraft, as flight engineer for P-3 Orion aircraft and bombardier/navigator for A-6 Intruder aircraft.

Master Chief Bushey was selected to attend the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy in Fort Bliss, Texas in January 1980 and while there received the General Ralph E. Hanes Jr. Award for outstanding research. Following graduation in July 1980 he returned to VRF-31 as Command Master Chief in Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). On September 9, 1988, Master Chief Bushey became the seventh Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy.

Master Chief Bushey is entitled to wear a Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), Navy Commendation Medal (two awards), Navy Achievement Medal, Good Conduct Medal (six awards), Meritorious Unit Commendation and Battle “E” (two awards). He is designated an Enlisted Air Warfare Specialist and has accumulated more than 6,000 flying hours and made more than 400 carrier landings.

Master Chief Bushey has received special recognition as Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet Sailor of the Year for 1972 and Tidewater Virginia’s Military Citizen of the Year for 1982. The Bushey family was selected as Tidewater Military Family of the Year for 1988.

Biography from the Office of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy

Read more about MCPON Bushey in excerpt from Winds of Change: The History of the Office of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, 1967–1992.

Published: Mon Aug 29 17:01:11 EDT 2016