We Stick Together Lessons Learned from Commanding USS THE SULLIVANS (DDG-68)

"We Stick Together: Lessons Learned from Commanding USS THE SULLIVANS (DDG-68)" is a leadership memoir that takes readers along on a journey of discovery with the crew across the seas and into the soul. This book explores and explains what it means to be a surface warfare officer aboard an historic ship in the post-Cold War, post-9/11 world.

Seasoned sailors and civilians alike will benefit from the many lessons learned in this short work. This memorable memoir explains how selflessness, character, truth, and the pursuit of excellence can bring meaning and fulfillment to all.

Each chapter illuminates and entertains the reader with sea stories, pop-culture references, and historic truths that need to be re-examined and ruminated by all. Get ready for this positive, entertaining, and enlightening journey aboard a modern warship as told by the captain, the son of a fisherman and a simple kind of man, who believes in critical thinking, rock and roll, the American dream, and the importance of family. Captain Tony Parisi shares his personal journal entries and inner thoughts, taking the reader on a journey across the sea and into the soul.

Captain Anthony J. Parisi, USN (Ret) was born and raised in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The son of Sicilian and Portuguese parents, he was raised in a strict Roman Catholic fishing family that provided the strong foundation for a life of service at sea. In 1984 he graduated from Gloucester High School and attended Norwich University, the Military College of Vermont on a three-year NROTC scholarship. Captain Parisi studied International Studies and Spanish and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1988.

Commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy in May 1988, his first ship was USS FORRESTAL (CV-59) based at Naval Station Mayport, Florida. Captain Parisi earned his Surface Warfare qualification in 1990 and served in many subsequent at sea billets including USS JACK WILLIAMS (FFG 24), USS JOHN RODGERS (DD 983), USS HIGGINS (DDG 76), and Commander Carrier Strike Group 8, USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69). Captain Parisi had the good fortune to command two ships, USS ZEPHYR (PC 8) 1996-1997 and USS THE SULLIVANS (DDG 68) 2006-2007. He made numerous deployments to Mediterranean and Black Seas, North Atlantic, Eastern Pacific, Caribbean, Arabian Gulf, and circumnavigated South America.

Ashore, Captain Parisi served as a NATO intelligence analyst at AFSOUTH in Naples, Italy during the war in Kosovo 1999-2000; and a senior course instructor at the Surface Warfare Officer's School in Newport, Rhode Island from 2002-2005. He also had command ashore at Afloat Training Group (ATG) Mayport, FL 2009-2011. Captain Parisi also served as the Senior Defense Official and Defense Attaché to the Republic of Italy and San Marino from 2012-2015. Captain Parisi's last active-duty assignment was Chief of Staff, Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA from 2015-2017.

Captain Parisi's awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. In 2018 Captain Parisi was bestowed with the title of Cavaliere al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic).

Captain Parisi is a graduate of both the Naval Postgraduate School and the U.S. Naval War College; and holds two Masters of Arts Degrees in National Security Affairs. He has published several articles on Surface Warfare, national security, and Naval education and training. Captain Parisi retired from the U.S. Navy on 31 August 2017 after more than 29 years of dedicated, focused, and honorable service. He currently works at the Littoral Combat Ship Training Facility at Naval Station Mayport, FL where he continues to teach and train U.S. Navy Sailors to fight and win at sea.