Official U.S. Navy website - Commander Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

At 10 O’clock on July 27th, the warship REUBEN JAMES (FFG-57), a part of Destroyer Squadron THREE ONE, conducted a change of command ceremony on Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam.

The crew assembled to say farewell to Commander David E. Miller and welcome Commander Daniel W. Valascho as the new Commanding Officer. Commander Valascho, a native of Detroit, MI, recently completed his tour on REUBEN JAMES as the Executive Officer.

Commander Miller originally from Blue Earth, MN, commanded REUBEN JAMES from January 2010 to July 2011 and led the ship through many milestones to include two Western Pacific deployments. During his time in command, Commander Miller worked to promote peace, stability, strengthen interoperability with allied countries sharing common interests of maritime security, counter-terrorism, and humanitarian and disaster assistance. With his wife, Paula, and daughter, Katie, in attendance the Officers and Crew of the REUBEN JAMES bid farewell to Commander Miller.

“Working against illegal fishing, piracy, corruption, lawlessness, promoting freedom of navigation, this is what REUBEN JAMES has been doing these last few deployments”. Said retired Navy Admiral Mark P. Fitzgerald, who offered remarks and thanked Commander Miller for his exceptional performance as the ships top officer.

“How does a ship become so successful? It’s about leadership all the way from the top down. You got the right leader in (Commander) Miller. REUBEN JAMES has been a class act; you should pat yourselves on the back.”