City native helps protect Pacific

Rear Adm. Sean Pybus appointed special ops commander in Pacific region

Monique Headley

General Douglas MacArthur once said, “No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.”

While the rest of America enjoys the liberty of undisturbed sleep, Stillwater native Rear Adm. Sean A. Pybus, recently appointed to command the Special Operations Pacific region, keeps watch from his station in Hawaii.

According to father Emmett Pybus, research faculty at Oklahoma State University, his son is deployed to promote global peace and domestic freedom. With this appointment to rear admiral of Special Operations, Pybus becomes the first naval officer to assume such a position, he said.

“It is an assignment, not a promotion, to lead the Special Operations Command Pacific for my boss, four-star Adm. Timothy J. Keating of the U.S. Pacific Command,” Pybus said. “It means you join a fairly elite, or at least a small number, of highly selective leaders of all the armed forces. I am responsible for conducting Special Operations troops.”

Special Ops is a joint community of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine forces very comfortable with integrated practice and training, Pybus said.

“Special Ops are doing a lot of the surgical and sensitive work in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and other places. I am the day-to-day guy to get the ops done,” he said.

Pybus oversees a staff of 300 with 3,000 units of all services ultimately responsible for the command of 50,000 Green Berets, Navy SEALs, air commandos and special operations Marines, as reported by the Honolulu Star Bulletin. Pybus is responsible for a region of 36 countries, including China, India, North and South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

“In Special Ops, we have some of the finest men and women in military. I have a senior staff led by captains and colonels so there is very little day-to-day at the top but I communicate to leadership and they pass down,” Pybus said.

He is responsible for oversight in a region rife with potential for conflict as a result of fundamental religious fractals, energy, trade and commerce disparities and the presence of various sizable militaries and agendas, he added.

“We invest in a lot of folks to make sure people are available for good governance and security capabilities, the idea being to provide a population with security and safe governance on local, state and national levels. The geopolitics are significant as compared to other regions,” he said.

The politics in the area are extremely complex, and the distances between countries are large, he said. Of particular concern is Indonesia, which he said has the largest Muslim population in the world.

“Most people don’t know that or pay it much nevermind but it is a huge population and largely at peace. However, there are nefarious sources that are trying to agitate and build an extremist following,” he said.

A primary task of special ops is to build relationships and pursue peace with the people living in the region, Pybus said. Doing so requires a lot of travel as personnel provides “humanitarian, civil and medical assistance as a part of disaster relief operations,” he said.

A current project is the creation of a typhoon shelter system in Bangladesh, India, he said.

When military personnel deploy, families often move. Pybus said his family has moved every two years. While he is currently stationed in Hawaii, his wife of 21 years, Patti, is in the process of closing one house to open another.

“It’s really a pick-up-and-go life,” Pybus said. “My family) has moved everywhere. That said, we are close to each other and stay connected.”

The Pybuses have four children. Arianna just completed her freshman year at the U.S. Naval Academy, Alexander is a high school senior, Alyssa is in the 10th grade, and Christopher will enter the eighth grade next year.

Often family trees show similarities among the branches, and the Pybuses would seem to be of the military ilk, said Emmett Pybus.

“Sean has a couple of uncles who served in World War II,” he said. “I was in the Navy during the Korean War. Another uncle, William Wooldridge, was the first sergeant major of the U.S. Army.”

Both father and son were stationed in Hawaii, though Emmett Pybus said his son has more responsibilities.

“He has always been a leader,” his father said. “At home, when he was growing up, he was always strong-willed.

“Of course we didn’t think that was leadership then. We thought he was being a rascal. We are so proud of him.”

Pybus, a 30-year career military officer, attended the University of Rochester with a full ROTC Naval scholarship.

He has conducted special operations internationally including in Sierra Leone, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Bahrain and the Republic of Panama.

No matter how far he may roam, Stillwater remains home to Pybus.

“I grew up in Stillwater and appreciate having grown up there with solid people, lots of support and a good education which provides me the privilege of leading people today,” he said. “Go Cowboys!”