Stan Arthur Admiral Stanley R . Arthur , USN ( born September 27 , 1935 ) was the Vice Chief of Naval Operations from 1992 – 95 , culminating more than 38 years as an officer in the United States Navy . Military career . Admiral Arthur was born in San Diego , California and was commissioned in U . S . Navy through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps Program in June 1957 . Following completion of flight training , he was designated as a Naval Aviator in 1958 . Arthur flew more than 500 combat missions in the A - 4 Skyhawk during the Vietnam War , receiving 11 separate awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross and over 50 separate awards of the Air Medal , making him one of the most highly decorated combat aviators of that conflict . During the 1970s and 1980s , he also held command of a carrier - based attack squadron , a carrier air wing , an aircraft carrier , a carrier battle group ( Carrier Group 7 ) , and was Deputy Chief of Naval Operations ( Logistics ) ( OP - O4 ) . In December 1990 , then - Vice Admiral Arthur took command of the United States Seventh Fleet . At the time , the Seventh Fleet staff was directing U . S . Naval Forces Central Command and was forward deployed in the Persian Gulf . Thus Vice Admiral Arthur oversaw the U . S . Navy buildup for the Persian Gulf War which broke out on 17 January 1991 . He directed the operations of more than 96 , 000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel and 130 U . S . Navy and Allied ships . This represented the largest U . S . naval armada amassed since World War II . He continued directing Naval Forces Central Command until April 1991 , when he returned to Yokosuka to take up Seventh Fleet duties once more . He continued to command Seventh Fleet until July 1992 . Admiral Arthur assumed duties as the Vice Chief of Naval Operations on 6 July 1992 . He retired from active military service on 1 June 1995 . In that job as the Navy ' s number two officer , he was also the Navy ' s most senior Naval Aviator immediately after the 1991 Tailhook Incident . Admiral Arthur was nominated by President Bill Clinton to head U . S . military forces in the Pacific as the prospective Commander of United States Pacific Command , but the nomination was withdrawn after Senator Dave Durenberger ( R - Minnesota ) , questioned Arthur ' s handling of sexual harassment allegations brought by one of the Senator ' s constituents , a female Navy student helicopter pilot named Rebecca Hansen , who was attrited from flight training . Rather than let the Pacific fleet job go unfilled during what might have been protracted hearings , Arthur elected to retire from the Navy on February 1 , 1995 as a four - star admiral . Critics charged that the Chief of Naval Operations , Admiral Mike Boorda , sacrificed Arthur to improve the Navy ' s image on sexual harassment following the Tailhook Incident . The volume of complaints prompted Boorda to issue an unusual public defense of Arthur and his decision not to fight for the nomination : Post Military . Arthur joined Lockheed Martin in 1996 and was appointed President , Missiles and Fire Control – Orlando , Florida in July 1999 . Education . Arthur is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford , Ohio . He later earned a second bachelor ' s degree in aeronautical engineering from the U . S . Naval Postgraduate School and received his master ' s degree in administration from George Washington University . Awards . In 1996 Arthur received the Admiral Arleigh A . Burke Leadership Award from the Navy League . He was inducted into the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor in 2008 . He also received the Gray Eagle Award . The Admiral Stan Arthur Award For Logistics Excellence is presented annually in his honor , and recognizes military and civilian logisticians who epitomize excellence in logistics planning and execution .