Photo by Chad Rines Pax River Commanding Officer Capt. Glen Ives gets his ceremonial wetdown after his last flight Tuesday from a Search and Rescue crew that included HN Mike Chernenko manning the nozzle. Afterward, the ‘‘SAR Dogs” presented Ives with a Pax River SAR coin and a plaque.

‘‘As I was jockeying to get a picture of my boys with Brooks Robinson, I heard a voice behind me say, ‘Ma’am, let me help you with that,’” read the mother’s e-mail. ‘‘Turned around, and it was ONLY Commanding Officer Glen Ives of Pax himself! He asked almost a dozen folks to step aside so he could get a picture of the boys with Brooks. My sons had their picture taken with the great Brooks Robinson, taken by the Skipper of Pax himself! Double WOW!”

That e-mail was actually sent to her husband traveling in California, who attached it to his thanks: ‘‘Captain, I cannot possibly put into words the happiness that you brought my wife and children with your display of care and concern.”

Another: ‘‘Thank you for all you did to make this tour possible. We were overwhelmed by the hospitality of everyone we came in contact with.”

And another: ‘‘Thank you for your very kind words, the wonderful retirement ceremony for my husband, and the beautiful CO’s coin you presented me. I will treasure this coin and have shown everyone who will look at it.”

Yes, they’re small, but to Ives they’re important. ‘‘Our Pax Pros do that sort of thing all the time, going to schools, working with STARBASE-Atlantis, doing Christmas in April and Special Olympics,” said Ives. ‘‘Those one and two person things add up.”

Ives will turn over command of Pax River tomorrow, when he is relieved by his executive officer, Capt. Andy Macyko. That fact has begun to sink in over recent weeks, as Macyko has attended more and more meetings because they concern issues that he, not Ives, will face.

Macyko will not find what new presidents do: a note on the desk from his predecessor. ‘‘The difference is that my successor is someone I’ve had the pleasure to serve with over the past two years,” said Ives. ‘‘There’s really no note to leave, except that I know you’re going to do great.”

According to Ives, ‘‘He’s been a partner. Everything has been done in tandem because I knew he was going to be CO one day. He’s not just the XO, he’s the PCO, prospective CO. If you do that, you take a different approach.”

When Ives is ceremonially piped ashore tomorrow, it will be the end of 34 years in the Navy — four at Annapolis and 30 as a commissioned officer. At first, however, the Navy was far from his mind.

‘‘My dad was career Army,” said Ives. ‘‘I knew that something about serving was important to me, so I decided in high school that I would apply to West Point. Then my high school counselor and my parents suggested I apply to them all because it’s a great scholarship and will increase your chances.”

That’s just what he did, applying to all — Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine — plus some civilian schools. The first reply came from Annapolis. Be there at 0600 on July 8 to start.

‘‘My dad said, ‘Of course, you can’t take it. We’re Army.’ But he was joking. He said the decision was mine, so I better find out more about it,” Ives said of that day.

It was because the Navy came through first that young Glen Ives took a closer look at the Navy. ‘‘What I learned was that, back then, the Naval Academy was the only one that offered majors, 27 at the time, while West Point and the Air Force didn’t,” said Ives. ‘‘I also learned the Navy wasn’t just ships. It was aircraft, Marines, and special forces, too — just a host of things.”

The more he looked at Annapolis, ‘‘something just seemed to resonate.”

As it happened, all the service academies offered appointments. Air Force was rejected because the Ives family was then living in Colorado Springs and it was too close. Coast Guard? Too small. Merchant Marine? ‘‘If I were smart, I would have looked at that more closely, because it’s a great deal, but I wanted to be a war fighter.” Finally in March, West Point. ‘‘It was almost anticlimactic. When it came, I just knew I wasn’t going to West Point. I’d really known it for a couple of months.”

Glen Ives became an instant minority. ‘‘My dad served 30 years in the Army. My three best friends all went to West Point. My sister was ROTC at William & Mary, and my brother-in-law is West Point. Fortunately, my mom is a big Navy supporter.”

Ives also knew the military would be a life away from home a lot. ‘‘My dad served in the Army during the Vietnam era, so he was gone a year at a time on three different occasions,” Ives said. ‘‘We also moved around a lot and saw a lot of things. That experience brings you tighter as a family, and you grow together when you’re dealing with things as a family.”

Helping families of deployed Sailors is the reason for one of Ives’ proudest accomplishments as commanding officer: the Individual Augmentee Support Program. ‘‘We didn’t wait for Big Navy to do it,” said Ives. ‘‘In fact, I think Big Navy is catching up to us, because many of the things we’re doing are models for other places.”

It got started when several Pax River people, among them his wife Barbara (also an Annapolis graduate) and then Command Master Chief Jeff Snowden, came to him with a problem. ‘‘They said at Pax we have Sailors going on these individual augmentee tours, and we’re not really postured to support them properly,” said Ives. ‘‘My answer was that you’re right. Give me some ideas. And that’s what they did.”

He continued, ‘‘Our team laid out what we needed to do. We need to help them prepare to go, because they get such late notice with so little time. We need to link up with families to get them information and help care for them while the IAs are gone. We need a sponsor program that will enable them to reach back if they need pay support.”

Finally, ‘‘We need to recognize them when they come home, because it’s not like coming back with a ship or a squadron where there’s a big homecoming. You just slip back into your assignment and it’s like you never went anywhere or did anything.”

From that beginning, IA support grew ‘‘because we kept asking if that’s enough. Command Master Chief (John) Stigler came onboard and picked up what Master Chief Snowden was doing, and helped develop with the Fleet and Family Support Center, the medical center and others on base the indoctrination program we have. We do it in plenty of time.

‘‘We also have the IA spouse support program that Barbara (Ives) has been doing and will turn over to a successor. We do monthly events for the spouses and families that builds camaraderie and teamwork as they support our men and women serving overseas in harm’s way.”

And then there’s the quarterly IA Homecomings, ‘‘so they have a sense of closure, not only for them but for their families.”

Said Ives, ‘‘If there’s one thing I’m most proud of, that’s the one: that I have men and women here who are smart and caring enough to say they’re going to so something about this and then figure out a way to do it.”

But a success like the IA program doesn’t happen without support from the top. Ives: ‘‘I’ve been an operational guy for a long time, what was ingrained in me by the men and women I worked for as a junior officer was that you take care of your people, especially when they’re deployed.”

It has also come from the top of NAVAIR and NAWCAD. NAVAIR Commander Vice Adm. David Venlet and NAWCAD Commander Rear Adm. Steven Eastburg attend virtually all the IA Homecomings, as do an impressive array of commanders and Cos from other tenant activities. Attendance by enlisted, officer and civilian members of the Pax community has grown with each homecoming, and the last two have been standing room only.

‘‘We need command support throughout the base if we’re going to have a strong program, and what we’re seeing is a tremendous amount of support,” said Ives. ‘‘Almost 100 percent of those going IA are attending the indoc classes, and if we learn about anyone in the Southern Maryland area whose husband, wife, dad or mom is deployed in support of what we’re doing overseas, we include them.”

IA support has been just one facet of Mrs. Ives’ support of her husband’s commend tenure. She was a member of the first class of women at the Naval Academy, with all the difficulties that entailed. While their time at the Academy overlapped by two years (he is Class of 1980, she 1982), they didn’t meet until after both had graduated.

Mrs. Ives retired from active duty shortly before their first son was born, but she maintained her reserve status, not missing a single annual drill or other reserve commitment in 27 years and rising to the rank of captain.

‘‘She’s just very devoted, works hard and puts her heart and mind into it,” said Pax River’s CO. ‘‘She was a CO as a reservist and received every award you can in the reserves. She retired in the senior-most position you can possibly have as a meteorologist and oceanographer.”

He continued, ‘‘She did all that while supporting me, because when you have command of a squadron or base, you don’t do it by yourself. She has been an important part of each of my three commands. She’s been as selfless as a person could be.”

So now what? What’s next for Glen R. Ives, United States Navy retired? ‘‘There are times when I feel I would love to stay in government service, supporting the mission we have here,” he said. ‘‘I’d love to be part of a good company that supports our mission here. Then there are times when I’d like to coach a high school basketball team or find a small community and help manage it. I could be happy doing about anything as long as it’s helping people.”

In any event, the Navy won’t be without an Ives in the officer corps for long, as next week son Glen C. Ives will graduate from Annapolis. A year later, Matthew F. Ives will also graduate from Annapolis. Glen C. will attend flight school after graduation, so there will be an Ives in the air as well.

The Ives’ third son, Jack A. Ives, will be ocean-bound two years later, albeit not from the Naval Academy. He is attending the State University of New York-Maritime, which prepares students for careers in the maritime industry, government, military and private industry.

What will he miss most after tomorrow? ‘‘There’s so much. I’m going to miss walking by a couple of Sailors and just stopping to talk with them. I’m going to miss being around some of the greatest people I’ve ever known. I’m going to miss putting on a flight suit and going out to the flight line,” he answers.

And wistfully: ‘‘I already miss being at sea — the camaraderie you have on a ship or a squadron. There’s something special about waking up in a stateroom, splashing some water on your face, putting on a flight suit, strapping your boots on, grabbing your gear and making your way up to the flight deck. The sun is just about to creep over the horizon, not many people are up and about, and you can hear and smell the ocean.

‘‘You just kind of miss all that. There’s nothing like it.”