I was excited to see the news that RMDL Frederick Roegge had relieved RMDL (or was he recently promoted to RADM? His official biography page still shows him as a 1-star -- the Navy doesn't make figuring out the correct rank name abbreviations for O-7s and O-8s very easy) James Foggo III as Commander of SUBGRU 8/CTF 69. As a blogger, I'm really hoping that RMDL Roegge moves to give CSG 8 at least a rudimentary online presence; they're the only Submarine Group without a Facebook page, for example.
Admiral Roegge is the first (and probably only) of my former COs to make flag, so I'm excited to see him in his first submarine-specific Flag command. He wasn't my favorite CO (I didn't like his decision not to give me leave for a week to drive my family cross-country in preparation for my upcoming transfer during a BATREP when my relief had already been on board for 6 weeks or so) but had I earned a chance to command a submarine, I would most likely have used more of his command style than any of my other COs. Of all my Commanding Officers, he was definitely the most deserving of flag selection, IMHO.
So which Admirals did you know before they earned their flags?