Someone can infer McLernon does something very dangerous, very well, to deploy this frequently. His return date to LMI is a lesser concern than how soon he will reunite with his wife and their five-year-old daughter, and how to stay connected in the meantime.

“You really want to believe a deployment doesn’t affect your kids, but it does,” he said. “Some kids just don’t understand why mom or dad is leaving.”  

It’s one of the few concerns for McLernon, who seems to take everything in stride after 10 years of combined active and reserve duty service. He credits LMI for helping where it can.

“The last couple of months I have been learning the ropes here while getting ready to go out again,” he said. “There’s never been a point when LMI put me in a position where I didn’t think I could succeed.”

McLernon served six years in the Navy after graduating from Virginia Tech. In 2013, he decided to transition from active duty, signing a three-year contract with the Reserve to pursue a civilian career and a more stable home life.

“The turning point for me was my daughter being born. I want to focus on being a family man,” he said. “For a lot of people in the surface warfare community, family life is difficult.”

For his civilian career, McLernon joined a large government contractor, assisting the Navy, Air Force, and other defense and national security organizations with modernization and change management initiatives. For reserve duty, a friend introduced him to the Coastal Riverine Force (CRF), part of the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. CRF provides maritime security in brown- and green-water environments, patrolling inland waterways, escorting high-value military assets, and conducting occasional inland missions.

“It was like a duck to water,” said McLernon, who as one of CRF’s few reserve officers served as patrol leader on his last deployment. He presently serves as platoon assistant officer in charge and will soon be promoted to lieutenant commander.

The unanticipated drawback of McLernon’s officership has been how frequently CRF relies on him. “That type of work deploys at minimum every two years; the tempo is insane,” he said. “They looked at me and said you’re one of the few officers in the reserves [with this experience]. We need you to go again.”