Chief Petty Officer Induction

September 15th is a special day every year in the Navy – while it is a payday, it doesn’t have much to do with money. Every September 15th, the Navy promotes those selectees who have spent the previous month going through initiation and awards them the rank of Chief Petty Officer. For these senior enlisted personnel, it is time for them to cast aside their working dungarees, and don the Khaki uniform of the Chief.
Chiefs are a different breed. They are experts in their trade, and selected for their leadership and steady guidance. The rank was created 113 years ago, formalizing a tradition that existed of having the senior, most experienced rated sailors as the “Chief” sailor – that individual designated by the Captain as the one in charge of his peers. Since then, it has become much more than just being in charge. Officers must learn to fight the ship and the strategies to engage the enemy. But do you really want the tactician and strategist with a wrench in his hand in some bilge trying to fix the ship? Chief of the Boat, MMCM(SS) Robert Bentley was my first COB – the senior enlisted man on the USS HELENA (SSN-725). He was also head of the Chief’s Mess, lovingly referred to at the “Goat Locker”. I had been aboard all of about ten minutes when he pulled me aside, shook my hand, stared me in the eye and told me – “Ensign, I want you to understand one thing – Officers fight the ship, Chiefs fix the ship – find yourself a good one and have him teach you what you need to know.”
Rather than a trip down memory lane however, the purpose of this blog entry is to relate how strange and wonderful it was to attend the Chief’s Pinning Ceremony this past week. Here we were in Baghdad, next to a lake created by Saddam to give the appearance of a Mediterranean Oasis in the middle of a desert. Half of us are wearing Army uniforms, and haven’t been aboard a ship in over half a year. Yet, we had a ship’s bell ringing aboard RADM Van Buskirk (a submariner none the less!) and the rest of the honored guests. Each Selectee was introduced, their old rank was removed, their anchors were pinned on and they had their covers put on by their fellow Chiefs. Then, the bell rang, the Bosun’s whistle piped them aboard and the sideboys saluted as the announcement of “Chief Petty Officer – Arriving” was made. For at least a brief hour, we were transported back aboard a ship, with the sea breeze in our faces, reliving our Navy heritage.
So much these days is lost in the sand, the dust, the “high tech equipment”. We speak of Network Centric operations, GPS positions, and satellite communications. We have airborne unmanned aerial vehicles, stealth fighters, and billion dollar submarines. The thing we lose sight of however is that none of it matters without the people. We have amazing sailors stationed out here in the middle of the desert, away from their training and “comfort zones” – some of them in the line of fire. They have integrated into the Army, even to the point of wearing their uniform. But something makes us unique and different. Maybe it is the tradition of not being able to rely on stateside “experts” when you are in the middle of the ocean. Maybe it is the reliance on your fellow shipmate that is ingrained in you from your first few days of indoctrination into the service. For these sailors however, it was the camaraderie, heritage, and exhilaration brought about through participation in the uniquely Navy tradition of the Chief’s promotion ceremony. Congratulations to these sandbox sailors, and to all the new Chief Petty Officers the world over.