Lost in all of the recent coverage of the expansive and legally questionable pardon granted by former President Joe Biden to his son, Hunter Biden, as well as the coverage over the past few years of the latter’s unfortunate life choices, is the fact that the Navy was perhaps the first to notice their joint troubles.

I first became aware of Hunter Biden in early 2013 when I was still serving in the Navy. I had just returned from a long, challenging deployment to Afghanistan and had been unexpectedly informed upon my return stateside that I had been selected for promotion to the admiral ranks. In polite calls from my bosses, I was also notified that a board had met while I was in Afghanistan to choose candidates for a direct Reserve commission into the public affairs field, which was my specialty. I was informed of the names of these candidates, who would soon become my responsibility as junior officers. At the end of one of those conversations, one of my immediate Navy bosses let me know that the selectees included someone named Hunter Biden. “Are you familiar with him?” the caller asked. All I could muster in response was, “I assume he is related to [then-]Vice President Biden.” He was indeed.

A little background here: The Navy does select applicants for direct commissions in the Reserve, but only in certain specialties such as public affairs. Those slots are highly competitive, with the selectees usually having prior enlisted military service of a high caliber, extensive civilian experience in the field for which they are applying, or both. Thus, I asked about the background of the small handful of candidates who had been selected while I had been in Afghanistan. All seemed to fit the tough criteria for selection, with one........

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