{"id":416,"date":"2025-06-18T14:45:47","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T14:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/?p=416"},"modified":"2025-06-18T14:50:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T14:50:15","slug":"commandant-of-midshipmen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/the-academy-news\/commandant-of-midshipmen\/","title":{"rendered":"Commandant of Midshipmen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"subCategory\">Leadership<\/span><\/p>\n<h1>Commandant of Midshipmen<\/h1>\n<p>ON MAY 2, retired United States Navy Captain Justin D. Cooper II assumed the role of Commandant of Midshipmen at the Academy. Captain Cooper had a distinguished career in the Navy with operational assignments ashore including serving with VS-41 as a flight instructor and Landing Signal Officer, and with Carrier Group One as Flag Lieutenant deploying aboard USS KITTY HAWK, USS INDEPENDENCE, and USS MIDWAY.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_417\" style=\"width: 264px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone sideImageR pres\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-417\" class=\"wp-image-417 size-full\" src=\"\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2025\/06\/cooper-pic.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"254\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2025\/06\/cooper-pic.jpg 254w, https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2025\/06\/cooper-pic-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 254px) 100vw, 254px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-417\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Captain Justin D. Cooper II<br \/>Commandant of Midshipmen<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Captain Cooper\u2019s personal awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and various campaign medals. He also received the Order of the Rising Sun from the Emperor of Japan.<\/p>\n<p>President Craig Johnson said, \u201cWe are thrilled to welcome Captain Justin Cooper to Maine Maritime Academy. His career history is exceptional, and he is a proven, thoughtful leader. The feedback from his visits to campus with both faculty, staff and students made it clear that out of a national field of applicants, he is the right leader for our regimental efforts. As we welcome the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel this fall, Captain Cooper will be an integral part of the MMA team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leadership<\/p>\n<p>Commandant of Midshipmen<\/p>\n<p>ON MAY 2, retired United States Navy Captain Justin D. Cooper II assumed the role of Commandant of Midshipmen at the Academy. Captain Cooper had a distinguished career in the Navy with operational assignments ashore including serving with VS-41 as a flight instructor and Landing Signal Officer, and with Carrier Group One as Flag Lieutenant deploying aboard USS KITTY HAWK, USS INDEPENDENCE, and USS MIDWAY.<\/p>\n<p>Captain Cooper\u2019s personal awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and various campaign medals. He also received the Order of the Rising Sun from the Emperor of Japan.<\/p>\n<p>President Craig Johnson said, \u201cWe are thrilled to welcome Captain Justin Cooper to Maine Maritime Academy. His career history is exceptional, and he is a proven, thoughtful leader. The feedback from his visits to campus with both faculty, staff and students made it clear that out of a national field of applicants, he is the right leader for our regimental efforts. As we welcome the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel this fall, Captain Cooper will be an integral part of the MMA team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/the-academy-news\/commandant-of-midshipmen\/\">&#8230;Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":424,"href":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416\/revisions\/424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainemaritime.edu\/mariner\/issue1-2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}