Vice Admiral Metcalf had extensive leadership and operational experience in both sea and shore assignments. He held sea commands in each grade, Lieutenant through Vice Admiral. Among his early commands was the USS King County which fired the Regulus II, the forerunner of the present day cruise missiles. He commanded the USS Westchester County, which made the first combat landing in Vietnam. He was in command of all the surface ships during the final evacuation of U.S. forces from Vietnam. Other Sea commands have been Commanding Officer of the USS Bradley, Commander Destroyer Squadron 33, Commander Naval Surface Group Mid – Pacific, Commander Destroyer Group Eight and Battle Group Two and Commander Second Fleet / Commander NATO Strike Fleet Atlantic / Commander Joint Task Force 120. He was the Operational Commander of all U.S. Forces during the successful campaign to rescue U.S. Citizens in the Invasion of Grenada. Vice Admiral Metcalf's last active duty assignment was the Deputy Chief of Staff of Naval Operations for Surface Warfare. During this assignment he developed the concept of "revolution at sea" and the triad "up out and down" for missile deterrence. Other assignment ashore have included Instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy and the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Advanced Research and Development Center in Bangkok, Thailand. In the office of the Chief of Naval Operations he served in a number of positions: Head of the planning Branch of the Programming Division, Deputy Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel for Personnel Planning and Programming and as Director of the General Planning and Programming Division.
At the conclusion of active combat operations following the Invasion of Grenada, Metcalf and several of his senior aides were caught attempting to bring captured Soviet-made AK-47s back to the US as war souvenirs, in violation of both military regulations and US customs law. Twenty-four AK-47s, along with 24 magazines, were seized by customs agents from the Vice Admiral's plane at Norfolk Naval Air Station, VA when Metcalf and his officers were returning from the Grenada theater. As a direct result of intervention by President Ronald Reagan, Metcalf received only a caution from the Navy regarding the incident, and it did not prevent him from later being assigned as Deputy Chief of Staff of Naval Operations for Surface Warfare. Press accounts at the time noted that in the same conflict, six enlisted personnel and one junior officer, of which two were Marines and five were soldiers from the 82nd Airborne, all received reduction in rank, dishonorable discharges and at least one year of prison time for the same offense.
