On a brisk morning on the deck of the mighty warship that rests in the Baltimore Inner Harbor, family and friends gathered to witness a rare ceremony March 5 aboard USS Constellation.

Cmdr. Michael J. Kemper, executive officer of Naval Medical Logistics Command (NMLC), Fort Detrick, Maryland, and future commanding officer of Navy Expeditionary Medical Support Command (NEMSCOM), Williamsburg, Virginia, was frocked to the rank of captain.

A frocking ceremony grants officers selected for promotion and, if required, confirmed by the U.S. Senate but not yet promoted, the right to wear the insignia and uniform and assume the title of the next higher grade. Naval officers are rarely frocked.

"As long as I have been in the United States Navy, I have never witnessed a Medical Service Corps officer frocking ceremony," said former acting director of the Defense Health Agency's Medical Logistics Division, Capt. Bernie Poindexter who was also the previous commanding officer of NMLC and now retired.

Yet, there were many people on hand to witness this ceremony. From as far away as Alaska, relatives made the journey to see the donning of new shoulder boards and insignia.

He was flanked by his wife, Renee, and sons, Michael Kemper Jr., from Charlotte, North Carolina, and Patrick Kemper, a student at Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, Florida. Other family members who attended included his mother, Virginia Kemper, and brother Chuck Kemper of Navarre, Florida; his sister and brother-in-law, Tina and Tom Collins, Chugiak, Alaska; his aunt, Cecelia Smith, Pensacola, Florida; and his mother-in-law, Marie Vandervort, Philadelphia.

Capt. Mary Seymour, NMLC commanding officer presided over the ceremony. During her comments, she thanked Virginia Kemper for "doing a fine job raising a son who is one of the hardest working gentlemen she knows. He treats everyone with the utmost respect regardless of their rank or position."

After the formal aspects of the ceremony, Capt. Kemper shared a few words with his guests. He regretted that his deceased father, an Air Force veteran, was unable to attend. But he continued by thanking his family for traveling considerable distances to witness the ceremony. About his brother, he said, "I am not the first captain in the Kemper family. Chuck is a charter boat captain so he holds that proud distinction."

He also thanked Capt. Seymour and said, "It was an honor and a privilege to have served as your executive officer. In particular, I learned the importance of accountability and the value of having frank and honest discussions."

He mentioned several other valuable traits he learned from Seymour and then directed his comments toward two other fellow captains.

"We would not be having this ceremony if it were not for the role Capt. James "Bernie" Poindexter and Capt. Edward Sullivan, played in guiding and mentoring me," he said.

Sullivan will relinquish the commanding officer role of NEMSCOM to Kemper in April.

The U.S. Navy promotion time-in-grade requirements represent the time an officer must spend at a particular rank before the officer becomes eligible for promotion to the next rank. The time-in-grade requirements are progressive, increasing with each promotion. Together with the total time an officer is in service, time-in-grade makes an officer eligible for promotion. Officers recommended for promotion are chosen by a selection board from a pool of all eligible candidates, according to the U.S. Naval Personnel Command website.

The pay grade of captain, (0-6), is the highest rank a naval officer can attain without congressional approval in addition to the presidential approval that's part of commissioning and officer promotion. Before receiving a recommendation for promotion from commander to captain, the officer must have completed three years of service in the grade of commander, to satisfy the minimum time-in-grade requirement. In addition, the captain-selectee must have between 21 and 23 years of total military service before the 0-6 selection board meets to consider the promotion. The board chooses approximately 50 percent of the recommended officers for promotion, depending partly on the needs of the service, according to the U.S. Naval Personnel Command website.

It has long been noted that officers pursuing the rank of captain are encouraged to request a series of assignments that improve their promotion potential by building on their previous assignments and acquire various skill-sets.

Future value to the Navy is a major factor in selection to captain according to the Naval Personnel Command website. The types of commands an individual has held, being recognized as an expert in one's field, and sustained superior performance in a mixture of operational assignments, direct Fleet support and policy tours, and overseas and joint duty tours throughout one's career will generally enhance board competitiveness.

Kemper's career met the established requirements that allowed his service record to be reviewed and designated him as one of the few people selected for frocking.

A native of Mary Esther, Florida, he enlisted in the Navy in 1983 and served as an Operating Room Technician at Naval Hospital, Portsmouth, Virginia; Naval School of Health Sciences, Portsmouth; and U.S. Naval Hospital, Rota, Spain. In 1994, he earned a Bachelor of Science in management studies from University of Maryland University College and was subsequently commissioned a Medical Service Corps officer.

He reported to Naval Medical Clinic, Annapolis, Maryland, in late 1994 and assumed the duties and responsibilities as head, Material Management Department. He attended the Financial and Material Management Training Course in 1995. In 2000, he completed the Army-Baylor Graduate Program in Health Care Administration and earned a master's degree in health care administration from Baylor University. Kemper continued to hone his skills at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia, as head, Managed Care Systems Operation Department (2000 to 2001) and team leader, Fleet Liaison (2001 to 2002).

Afterward, he reported aboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and served as the medical administrative officer/medical department division officer (2002 to 2004) and radiation health officer (2002 to 2003). He deployed with Truman in 2002 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). He next served as the head, administrative support department and public affairs officer at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland (2004 to 2006).

He then served as the Assistant Commandant and Navy Company Commander at the F. Edward Hubert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda (2006 to 2009). He also held a faculty appointment in the School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in Military/Emergency Medicine. In 2009, he performed a 7-week fellowship at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) in Alexandria, Virginia. He then reported to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Contingency Support Division later in 2009 and conducted analysis and supervised the sourcing of individual augmentee personnel for all of Navy Medicine's contingency support operations. Kemper deployed to Qatar in 2011 and served as the Special Operations Command (Central) Medical Material Officer and Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command Deputy Surgeon. He then reported to NMLC, in October 2011 and assumed the duties and responsibilities as Director, Medical Equipment and Logistics Solutions. In June 2014, he became the executive officer.

Selected as the next commanding officer of the Navy Expeditionary Medical Support Command, Kemper will hold his change of command ceremony April 29, 2016, in Williamsburg, Virginia.

As the ceremony came to a close, Kemper was mindful to thank his wife, Renee, for the tremendous impact she had in supporting him and his career, as well as in raising a loving family.

"Even though we are complete opposites, she completes me. There's no better way to acknowledge and recognize this than the fact that we will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary later this year," Kemper said.

For more news from Naval Medical Logistics Command, visit www.navy.mil/.