Babette Rose Bolivar (born 1962) is a retired

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

who last served as the commander of

Navy Region Southwest The Navy Region Southwest is one of eleven current naval regions responsible to Commander, Navy Installations Command for the operation and management of Naval shore installations in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, ...

(nicknamed "The Navy Mayor of San Diego") from March 14, 2019 to July 16, 2021. She was the second woman and first Filipino-American to command the navy region, which covers

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, and

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. She previously served as the 42nd commander of Navy Region Southeast from February 2017 to February 2019, with tours as commander of Navy Joint Region

Marianas The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly Volcano#Dormant and reactivated, dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean ...

and Task Force West, dual-hatted as PACOM representative to

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

from August 2014 to January 2017, commander of

Navy Region Northwest The Navy Region Northwest is one of several United States Navy Regions responsible to Commander, Navy Installations Command for the operation and management of Naval shore installations in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nort ...

from June 2013 to July 2014, commanding officer of

Naval Weapons Station Yorktown Naval Weapons Station Yorktown is a United States Navy base in York County, James City County, and Newport News in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. It provided a weapons and ammunition storage and loading facility for ships of the Unit ...

from August 2007 to June 2010 and commanding officer of in the 1990s. She was promoted to her latest rank on March 1, 2014. She retired from active duty in 2021 after relinquishing command of Navy Region Southwest to Stephen D. Barnett.

Early life and education

A native of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, Bolivar was raised by traditional Filipino-American parents, retired U.S. Navy sailor Ted Sereno Bolivar from

Nabua, Camarines Sur Nabua, officially the Municipality of Nabua (Rinconada Bikol language, Rinconada Bikol: ''Banwāan ka Nabua''; Tagalog language, Tagalog: ''Bayan ng Nabua''), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, provin ...

, and Virginia Dolor Bolivar from

Pangasinan Pangasinan, officially the Province of Pangasinan (, ; ; ), is a coastal Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region of Luzon. Its capital is Lingayen, Pangasinan, Lingayen while San Carlos, Pangasi ...

. She received her commission from the

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

where she received a B.S. degree in Oceanography in 1985. She also has an M.S. degree in management from

Troy University Troy University is a public university in Troy, Alabama, United States. It was founded in 1887 as Troy State Normal School within the Alabama State University System, and is now the flagship university of the Troy University System. It was one ...

Service

In 2017, Bolivar was officially reprimanded by then-commander of the

United States Indo-Pacific Command The United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is the unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific, Indo-Pacific region. It is the oldest and largest of the unified combatant commands. Lead ...

, Admiral Philip S. Davidson for three of five substantiated allegations against her in relation to the Fat Leonard scandal which took place during her command of the USS ''Salvor'' in 1998. Davidson's letter of reprimand determined that Bolivar had wrongly accepted gifts in the form of "a free hotel room, dinner, drinks, entertainment and a golf excursion" from Leonard Glenn Francis, owner of Glenn Defense Marine Asia. However, it was also argued that she hadn't willingly accepted the gifts or was aware of Fat Leonard's criminal activities, and Davidson instead considered the matter closed. No further action was taken against her. In 2019,

Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the highest-ranking officer of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an Admiral (United States), admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the United States Secretary ...

John M. Richardson unexpectedly stripped Bolivar of her authority to preside over two

SEAL Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

-related court-martial cases, namely those of Jacob X. Portier and Eddie Gallagher. This was in response to a letter by Bolivar to Gallagher's civilian defense attorney, Timothy Parlatore, requesting that a harsher punishment be meted out to the Navy SEAL, suggesting that factors such as witness intimidation, interference with the administration of justice, the effect of deferment on the good order and discipline on the command and Gallagher’s character could be considered, and that Parlatore’s plea “fails to satisfy” those concerns". In essence, this was a show of support for a harsher punishment for Gallagher in opposition to what was supported by the military jury of his peers.

References

{{Underwater diving, unddiv Living people 1962 births Military personnel from Hawaii American military personnel of Filipino descent Female admirals of the United States Navy United States Naval Academy alumni Troy University alumni Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Navy rear admirals (lower half) 21st-century American women Women Divers Hall of Fame 20th-century American women 20th-century American military personnel 21st-century American military personnel