Bro. Rear Admiral Osie V. Combs (Ret.)

Brother Rear Admiral Osie V. Combs is one of less than 50 African Americans that have risen to become a Flag Officer in the United States Navy. Bro. Adm. Combs was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1995. He served as the Deputy Commander for Submarines, SEA 92, Naval Sea Systems Command. During this time, he led the team that designed the Seawolf-class submarine—the US Navy’s first autonomous/unmanned submarine. From November 1997 to July 1998, Rear Admiral Combs was Vice Commander, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in San Diego California. In his last assignment, he oversaw all ship construction and repairs for the US Navy until retiring from the military in 1999. Bro. Adm. Combs has been awarded the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with one gold star, the Navy Commendation Medal, the Navy Unit Commendation with two bronze stars, the Navy "E" Ribbon with second Battle "E", the National Defense Service Medal with one bronze star, the Sea Service Ribbon, the Vietnam Service Medal with one bronze star, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

From 1974-1977, Bro. Adm. Combs attended graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Naval Engineer professional degree (Naval Architecture). In 1997 Rear Admiral Osie Combs, Jr. was elected to a five-year membership to the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's board of trustees. The MIT Corporation was comprised of 73 distinguished leaders in education, science, engineering, and industry.

Bro. Adm. Combs is a distinguished business leader as well. In early 2020, just as the Covid-19 virus began to spread across the United States, Bro. Adm. Combs called a meeting to see what he and his colleagues might do to combat the looming pandemic. He asked “how [they] could use [their] knowledge and capabilities to help wage war against Covid-19…” acknowledging that, “This is a war. And you can’t fight today’s war with yesterday’s weapons….” Seven months later, Bro. Adm. Comb’s company PEI provided an answer, delivering the first of 10 rapidly deployable, freestanding Covid-19 testing sites to Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) that were heated, configured to protect against viral contagion, and designed to withstand winds up to 120 mph. Each walk-up unit tests up to 320 people a day, and each drive-through site can serve up to 1,200 cars per day.

Consistent with community-service tenants of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Bro. Adm. Combs continues to be active as a founding member of Generation Redirect, a program that has sponsored more than 50 high school students from underrepresented minorities to attend mentoring sessions at top STEM schools, including MIT. To date, every Generation Redirect graduate has majored in a STEM field at college. He also runs a “sustained mentoring” program that supports students from fifth grade through their final year in college, and in some cases through grad school and professional development.