Admiral Terry Kraft: Securing His Dream Job

By LINDA L. AUSTIN

The new president and CEO of the USS Midway Museum, Rear Admiral Terry Kraft, is not a stranger to Coronado. As the Navy son of pilot Captain Roy Kraft, he attended middle school here and remembers the carefree times riding his bike all over the island and the strand. Being on the pier watching his dad return from cruise on the USS Bonne Homme Richard and selling the popular Vietnam POW bracelets pop up as other memorable childhood moments. “There was just no better place to be a kid than Coronado.”

When he became skipper of the USS Ronald Reagan based at NAS North Island, his two children experienced for three years the idyllic setting he had described to them. Erin and Brian attended Coronado Middle School, and then Erin finished her freshman year at Coronado High School. Both children are now in Denver, where Erin works in environmental planning with wind turbines and Brian is an aerospace engineer.

Kraft maintains ties to Coronado. “We still have a lot of friends in Coronado, and we sail with Mike and Mel Whittemore out of Coronado Yacht Club. He's got a racing boat, so we get down to Coronado a lot.”

Kraft always wanted to join the Navy even though he acknowledged that the family separations were difficult. With his dad absent for extended periods during the Vietnam War, he would forget what he looked like, but his pride in his dad and the close relationship they had when they were together more than filled in the gap.

“When I was in second grade, we lived in Lemoore, CA. My dad told me if I ever graduated from the Naval Academy, he would buy me a new car, so I thought that sounded pretty good. I started thinking about it at that time, and really, it's something I'd always wanted to do since then. The back story is my junior year, I called him, and he said, ‘Well, when I made that promise, a new car cost about two grand, so I'll give you two grand towards your car.’ I never let him off the hook for that.”

His dad was his hero, and “I wanted my service to emulate all that he gave me and our country.” With his dad pinning on his wings, he was designated a naval flight officer in 1982 and started his distinguished career with command positions at aviation squadron, ship and carrier strike group, shore facility levels, and a staff position with the Chief of Naval Operations.

Kraft’s notable service includes over 3,700 flight hours and 1,000 carrier-arrested landings in the A-6E, EA-6B and F/A-18F aircraft. He participated in Operations El Dorado Canyon, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom. Recalling Desert Storm and flying 40 late-night strikes in Iraq off the Midway with his VA 115 A-6 squadron, then returning to see the Midway as the sun rose, he said, “It meant we survived another night over the beach.”

“You know, you hear the term Midway Magic, and it's got a lot of facets to it, but probably the biggest one was the air wing was very close because, unlike air wings here in the United States, we all lived next to each other, nextdoor neighbors in Japan, and we were co-located with our ship, so we knew everybody on Midway. That unique ship airwing relationship was like nothing else I'd ever seen before…We didn't lose any aircraft in there, one of the few areas that didn't lose anybody, and I attribute it to Midway Magic.”

Before receiving orders to Japan, Kraft met his wife Mary, a Navy nurse stationed at Long Beach at Tailhook 87. Seeing a table full of nurses in the coffee shop, “My buddy and I just walked up to them to introduce ourselves. And that’s how we met. At the end of the week, I asked for her phone number, and she gave me her address and said, ‘You can write me a letter, and then I’ll decide if I want to get to know you’ because I was stationed in Widby Island, and she was stationed in LB. She said, ‘This sounds pretty long distance. I don’t know if this is going to work out or not.’ But you know how naval aviators are. We’re pretty persistent if there’s something we’re interested in. I knew as soon as I met her.”

They were married in April 1989 and immediately had orders to Japan. She worked at the hospital in Yokosuka while he was on Midway. One difficult part for the new bride was the continual war coverage on television wherever she went, making it impossible to get away from combat news. Even the Officers’ Club had CNN news coverage targeting the war with footage showing pilots regularly being shot down.

Asked about his most challenging time, Kraft said, “I think the biggest challenge is probably when I was the Enterprise Strike Group Commander; it was 2000. Used to call them battle groups. I was the one star in charge of the Enterprise strike group.… This was the heyday of the Somali pirates, so we're flying over Afghanistan every day and every night, but at the same time, all of our other ships were battling these pirates, and sometimes we'd win, sometimes we'd lose. People died, so that was definitely one of the most challenging times that I faced as leader.”

Being in command of the USS Ronald Reagan and stationed in Coronado was a highlight. “It was a new carrier. I got to take the ship on her first two deployments, and as we were preparing for deployment, I realized that over 60% of our sailors had never been on the six-month deployment before. So not only did we have to make the ship operational and ready to go, we had to prepare the mindset of the crew for what I called a nine-inning game, not just coming in for one or two innings which is much different… I loved that crew and every minute of my command tour there.”

After retirement in 2015, he went to work at General Atomics for eight years. While he enjoyed that job, “I kept an eye on Mac (the previous CEO) and I kept an eye on the Midway because I did have a connection from having served on Midway, but I just really believe in the mission here. You know to be America's living symbol of freedom, to support and honor service and sacrifice of so many veterans, and to work with all these amazing volunteers. To me this has always been my idea of a dream job, and so when it became available and Mac finally decided to retire, I was the first in line.”

Kraft describes Midway as his happy place. When he sees it, “I mean I just feel happy. I feel relaxed getting to walk on board an aircraft carrier after you've served on aircraft carriers your whole career, and getting to tell people about living, working on an aircraft carrier, the people that make an aircraft carrier go. There's just no better job.”

Recognizing that the volunteers are the backbone of Midway, he lists three important things that the ship offers retirees as well as the younger volunteers: mobility, socialization, and purpose. “Three big things as you get older are mobility, and they certainly have mobility here. They’re climbing all over the place all day. Socialization, they definitely got that part down, and a sense of purpose. They really believe in the mission of this ship and what they do. They love the guests. They are the attraction here, so I feel like we're not just making their lives better, we're prolonging their lives.

“We were just designated as The Best of the Best by Trip Advisor, which means we have a five-star rating on the top 1% of all attractions, with the number one TripAdvisor attraction in San Diego, number four museum of all museums in the United States, and that's pretty amazing.”

Kraft was eager to talk about Freedom Park with a projected grand opening in Fall 2027. Two decades ago, USS Midway and the Port of San Diego committed to build a park. The time has come to honor that commitment with the purpose “Create an iconic waterfront landmark that will serve and inspire the San Diego community for generations to come.”

He mentioned the tribute to the importance and resiliency of the military families at the end of Freedom Park. “We have a statue there, military families waving goodbye.” In recognizing the role his wife played in taking charge and keeping life normal for the children during the separation, Kraft acknowledged the job spouses and children have in supporting the military member.

Commenting on always looking for more volunteers to man the numerous stations on Midway and the fact that 2/3 of retired military leave the state, Kraft mentioned his hopes that AB46 will pass in California. Assemblyman James Ramos introduced Assembly Bill 46 in the 2023 California legislature to exempt military retirees and surviving spouses from California income tax on military retirement pay. California is one of the few states that fails to provide any form of tax relief despite having the largest number of assigned active-duty military members in this state and ranking fourth in the U.S. in the number of military retirees.”

Midway may be an important part of Kraft’s life, but he enjoys other aspects of his life besides family and sailing. He is a board member of The Distinguished Flying Cross Society, races in triathlons and rides bikes with the MOB (Midway on Bikes), attends plays with Mary all around the county as well as sporting events. His enthusiasm for and pride in Midway coupled with his contentment in San Diego life with his family and friends assure mobility, socialization, and purpose for him as well as the Midway volunteers. ◆