Military "Bearing" at CPO Heritage Days 2017

After a morning of classroom training, chief petty officer selectees line up to depart the battleship Wisconsin (BB-64) under the guidance of current chiefs who helped run the 17th annual Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Heritage Days, hosted by the Hampton Roads Naval Museum with the support of National Maritime Center Nauticus in Norfolk, Virginia. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

Last week, the Hampton Roads Naval Museum wrapped up its 17th Annual Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Heritage Days, during which 798 first class petty officers who have been selected to become chief petty officers underwent training in naval history and the stories of famous CPOs of yesteryear in preparation for their advancement.  They also experienced quite a bit of intense, yet friendly competition among themselves. 

Fleet Master Chief Paul Kingsbury of United States Fleet Forces Command addresses chief petty officer selectees at Nauticus, the National Maritime Center that is also home to the battleship Wisconsin (BB 64) and the Hampton Roads Naval Museum.  Nearly 800 selectees, plus over 750 current and retired chief, senior chief and master chief petty officers converged on downtown Norfolk, Virginia, from August 22 through 24 during Chief Petty Officer Heritage Days.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

Junior petty officers are typically "frocked" within days of being officially notified of their advancement in paygrade, sewing on their new rating badge relatively quickly after their selection.  Not so for chief petty officers, who undergo weeks of official and semiofficial rites of passage as selectees before their new anchors are pinned to their new khaki working uniforms.  After assembling ornate "charge books" to dutifully document their initiation-oriented tasks at the direction of "genuine" chief, senior chief and master chief petty officers, chief selectees virtually disappear from their regular lives into a khaki chrysalis until they reemerge for their pinning ceremonies.  Chief Petty Officer Heritage Days, held mainly aboard the museum battleship USS Wisconsin (BB 64), has become an important component of that transformation. 

Aboard USS Wisconsin (BB 64), Chief Aviation Structural Mechanic (Sel.) Caston Boyd holds a teddy bear representing another chief selectee from Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic, Chief Aviation Structural Mechanic (Sel.) Roman Blair. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

Although most of the selectees serving in the Mid-Atlantic region who were not actually on a deployment  were able to attend, one selectee who was unable to attend because of illness was vicariously carried around in the form of a Navy teddy bear by his fellow chief selectees from Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic.  According to Chief Aviation Structural Mechanic (Sel.) Caston Boyd, who was taking his turn bearing the bear of Chief Aviation Structural Mechanic (Sel.) Roman Blair, his fellow chief select had been informed of the selection board results only after landing in the hospital with what turned out to be a diagnosis of leukemia.  "He was on his deathbed for a minute, but he's fighting and in good spirits," said Boyd, who added that he and other members of his command had visited Blair at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, the week before.             

While helping support CPO Heritage Days, Senior Chief Aviation Administrationman Tiffanie Simpson pauses aboard USS Wisconsin (BB 64) with a crocheted doll of herself in uniform.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

Not all of the chief petty officer analogues represented someone unable to be there personally.  Senior Chief  Aviation Maintenance Administrationman Tiffanie Simpson of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), there to support the event, brought along her own likeness in the form of a doll that was made for her by crochet artist Aniqua Wilkerson.  She had already collected several dolls by the New York-based artist before deciding to have one of herself in uniform made, in her words, not to show off, but to show her pride in being in the Navy.  

One of many light moments shared between the mess competition judges, HRNM Exhibits Specialist Don Darcy, incumbent Director of Education Laura Orr, and retired Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician (Administrative) April Maletz. In this case, a two-member contingent from the destroyer Gonzalez (DDG 66) vies for the CPO Heritage Trophy. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

After the judging of the chief petty officer selectee mess and guidon competition on August 24, organizer Tom Dandes receives a hug from the guidon bearer of the Airborne Command, Control, and Logistics Wing (CACCLW) mess, Chief Aviation Michinist's Mate (Sel.) Martha Mendoza. The master of ceremonies for the competition, Chief Fire Controlman Erifili Marsolais, waits to present the CPO Heritage Trophy for that day. Winners of the competition on the two previous days included Naval Recruiting District (NRD) Philadelphia and NRD Richmond, Virginia.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

CPO Heritage Days 2016

Over 750 new chief petty officer selectees from as far away as Pennsylvania converged on the Hampton Roads Naval Museum in downtown Norfolk before dawn on August 15 to begin the 16th annual CPO Heritage Days. The three-day event, hosted at Nauticus and aboard the battleship Wisconsin (BB-64), gives prospective chiefs the opportunity to learn more about their history, their heritage, and what their new roles and responsibilities in fulfilling the Navy's mission will be. 

Led by a current chief petty officer (CPO), CPO selectees are led as a unit from their muster point at Town Point Park before dawn. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington) 

One of the chief petty officers leading the event gives instructions to the assembled selectees before moving from Town Point Park to the battleship Wisconsin. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington) 

Several hundred chief petty officer selectees as well as the current chief petty officers guiding them line up in front of the national maritime center Nauticus (also home to the Hampton Roads Naval Museum), waiting to board the museum ship USS Wisconsin (BB-64). (Photograph by M.C. Farrington) 

In front of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum in downtown Norfolk, Virginia, chief petty officer selectees for fiscal year 2017 await word to board USS Wisconsin (BB-64) to begin their training as the chief petty officer leading them looks on.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington) 



Led by chief petty officers from regional Navy commands, CPO selectees approach the museum ship USS Wisconsin (BB-64), where the instructional portion of their day is to begin. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)  



CPO selectees approach the museum ship USS Wisconsin (BB-64), where the instructional portion of their day is to begin. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)  

Hampton Roads Naval Museum Deputy Education Director Laura Orr discusses the significance of the 1942 Battle of Midway with chief petty officer selectees aboard USS Wisconsin (BB-64).  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

Opening a classroom session for chief petty officer selectees aboard USS Wisconsin (BB-64), Hampton Roads Naval Museum Volunteer Coordinator Tom Dandes, who is also a retired senior chief boiler technician, describes the significance of winning the CPO Heritage Trophy.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)



Wearing the type of uniform a chief petty officer would have worn in a battleship's engineering spaces during World War II, Hampton Roads Naval Museum Volunteer Coordinator Tom Dandes, who is also a retired senior chief boiler technician, shares the story of the selfless dedication shown by Chief Water Tender Peter Tomich during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, for which Tomich was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.  Although the classroom instruction took place in the battleship Wisconsin's CPO Mess, the high temperatures below decks added a visceral touch.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)     

In the battleship Wisconsin's wardroom, Duane R. Bushey, the seventh Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON), discusses the vast differences between the ways chief petty officer selectees were initiated two decades ago and the way the rite of passage is handled now, particularly the emphasis given towards learning the heritage and history of the chief petty officer rating.   (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)  

Retired Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician (Administrative) and Hampton Roads Naval Museum volunteer April Maletz shows Navy uniform items once mandated for wear by females, explaining that for decades, skirts were mandatory until the reality of sea duty forced the authorization of pants.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)  



Master Chief Operations Specialist John Lindsay, III, discusses his experiences as an operations specialist second class during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, from his post within USS Wisconsin's Combat Engagement Center, just feet from where he is standing.  He also told the CPO selectees some of the important lessons on leadership and communication he has learned in the quarter-century since.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)  

On the fantail of the museum ship USS Wisconsin (BB-64), Senior Chief Sonar Technician (Surface) Don Moore instructs chief petty officer selectees on the rest of the day's schedule before they transition from the classroom portion of the day's CPO Heritage Days events aboard the battleship, moving down the aft gangway to the adjoining museum Nauticus, where the competitions between commands would begin.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington) 

Bearing the guidon used by the chief petty officer selectees of his command, a selectee departs the museum ship Wisconsin (BB-64) after attending the classroom portion of the day's CPO Heritage Days events aboard the battleship. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington) 

A chief petty officer selectee "presents the colors" of the Norfolk-based cruiser Vella Gulf (CG-72) to a Hampton Roads Naval Museum panel composed of Deputy Education Director Laura Orr, Exhibits Specialist Don Darcy, museum volunteer (and retired senior chief) April Maletz, and Volunteer Coordinator Tom Dandes.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington) 

Hampton Roads Naval Museum Volunteer Coordinator Tom Dandes asks a chief petty officer selectee a naval history question while her unit is being inspected during the competitive phase of CPO Heritage Days. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)



On Monday, August 15, 2016, Hampton Roads Naval Museum Deputy Education Director Laura Orr helps a panel of judges from the museum evaluate the unit "colors" of a group of chief petty officer selectees as an audience of current chief petty officers observes the proceedings.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

At National Maritime Center Nauticus in downtown Norfolk, Virginia, CPO selectees from Pre-Commissioning Unit Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) join together as a unit to compete for the CPO Heritage Trophy, which is given by the Hampton Roads Naval Museum. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

Hampton Roads Naval Museum Volunteer Coordinator Tom Dandes prepares to present the CPO Heritage Trophy to the day's winning unit as master of ceremonies Senior Chief Don Moore looks on. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

Hampton Roads Naval Museum Volunteer Coordinator Tom Dandes presents the CPO Heritage Trophy to the CPO selectees of Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads for the best chief selectee mess among the competitors on August 17, 2016.  (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

Chief petty officers and selectees of Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads pause after being awarded the Hampton Roads Naval Museum's CPO Heritage Trophy for the best chief selectee mess on August 17, 2016. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)  

2013 CPO Heritage Days at HRNM

Day one (August 19) group of chief selectees

On August 19 and 20, the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, in cooperation with Nauticus and the Battleship Wisconsin, sponsored its thirteenth annual Chief Petty Officers Heritage Day for newly selected chief petty officers. Six hundred and seventy selectees from thirty-seven different commands participated in this annual ritual.

Day two (August 20) group of chief selectees

This year, several retired and veteran chief petty officers shared their wit and wisdom with selectees inside the battleship. Fleet Master Chief Charles Clarke,Force Master Chief Steven S. Giordano of Navy Cyber Forces, and Command Master Chief Dominick Torchia of Commander, Navy Region, Mid-Atlantic were also on hand to give their pep talks on leadership and the meaning of being a chief petty officer.

In addition to learning about the history of the U.S. Navy and the role of the chief petty officer, there was a day long competition that pitted each command's selectees against each other. The competition included an old fashion close order drill skill contest held at Town Point Park, the best turned out guidepost, and a series of forty-five questions on Naval and chief petty officer history and heritage. Active duty chiefs served as judges and awarded points based on each command's selectees performance.

Vanguard,inc. donated two trophies (one awarded each day) for the command with the highest score. Each trophy had the words "Where Chiefs Go, Only Eagles Fly" engraved on it.

Thank you to all who volunteered their time to make this event a success and congratulations to all the selectees on your accomplishment!