Scope and Contents

Military Resume, essay, correspondence, liturgy and VHS tapes detailing the service of Captain Robert M. Ranking, USN (Ret.) from 1966-2004. The essay is 'A Sailor's Life' concerning the life of homosexual sailor in the U.S. Navy. The correspondence are to Captain Rankin's family and friends, also a letter addressed to the USS O'Brien family and friend is included. The liturgy is for a Memorial Service for all GLBT veterans delivered at Leonard Matlovich's gravesite in the Congressional Cemetery on May23, 2004. One VHS tape is of a WESTPAC cruise, the second is the Library of Congress (or Smithsonian Institute's) Veterans History Project interview with Capatin Rankin.

Biographical / Historical

Captain Robert M. ('Mike') Rankin, USN (Ret.) was born in 1937 in Arkansas. In 1959 he graduated from the University of Arkansas, where he was in ROTC. Rankin earned an MD from the University of Tennessee in 1963. Drafted under the Berry Plan in 1964-65, Rankin served with Destroyer Division 102 and was then the Senior Medical Officer with Destroyer Squadron 232 on Yankee Station in Vietnam. He was also temporarily posted with several Marine units in I Corps and in the Delta. From 1966-1988 Rankin was on active status with the Navy Reserve and on inactive status from 1988-1998; he retired from the Navy Reserve in 1998. Rankin also served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia 1972-73 and became a specialist in public and mental health programs. In 1978 he became Arkansas' Mental Health Commissioner under Governor William J. Clinton. Between 1980 and 1996 Rankin worked for Veterans' Administration Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland CA, pioneering in the treatment of veterans with PTSD, substance abuse, mental health issues, and HIV/AIDS. He served on the President's Advisory Commission on HIV and AIDS under President Clinton. Rankin is currently a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at George Washington University and serves on the honorary board of Servicemembers' Legal Defense Network (SLDN).