 Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the arrival of the official party and remain standing for the American National Anthem. And in vocation, military personnel remain covered. Senior Chief Petty Officer, United States Navy, arriving. Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy, arriving. Parade the colors. Who say can you see that the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars for the bright... Chaplain Wooliford will now offer the invocation. Let us pray. Our Holy God and Father in Heaven, we come to this wonderful day in the life of Senior Chief LaCosas, his family, his friends and his shipmates. We thank you, dear Father, for Senior's 26 years of faithful and honorable service to our Navy and to our nation. And we pray now, dear God, as we continue through this retirement ceremony, that your presence would fill this place and God that there would be a great expectation and anticipation of what you would do in his life and the life of this family in the future. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Will the guest please be seated? Military personnel remain covered. Post and post aside boys, the retirement ceremony is the nation's expression of a job well done, a sincere official recognition of a long period of faithful and honorable service. It is a day of great significance, marking the end of a rewarding way of life within the Navy community. The ceremony concludes when, for the last time, the retiring member's shipmates pipe him over the side. This is a distinct courtesy, a final farewell called on the Boson's Pipe. This pipe is one of the Navy's oldest and most distinctive articles. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce our guest speaker this morning, retired Command Mass Chief, Mr. Warren Britton. All right, I guess they wanted to go ahead and get all my great words out of the way for John, so we'll go ahead and get started with that. Hey, good morning everyone. It is truly an honor and blessing to be here today. First, glad to see my old shipmate and classmate from the CMC Cobb class, Matt Lawnsworth. Thanks for being here. Really appreciate seeing you. Also, I'd like to acknowledge a few people first. To the retirement coordinator, senior chief, well, I would say it now, Mass Chief select, Parigi, where you at? All right, hey, great job for setting all this up. Thank you. To the Color Guard team, right? Always, always awesome job. Thank you for doing what you're doing. And to make sure I got this right, HM3 Reed Allen? Did I say that right? Hey, thank you for that powerful rendition of our national anthem. Please give them all a round of applause. All right, this is another great example of, heck, I don't think John would imagine being here today, right? 97? All right, 97. I gave you an extra couple of years in the Navy, right? But this is a big day, and I know he is happy that you are here to celebrate it with him. John's mother-in-law, Miss Elbin, thank you for being here as well. Also to his uncle, who is that? Uncle Mario? Where's Uncle Mario? Thank you for being here. And also to Aunt Edna, thank you for being here as well. All right, we also have some family members that came from a good distance, right? We have his cousin, Brad, right? And Brad, I believe he came from Illinois. Is that correct? All right, I looked up the weather this morning, and unfortunately, I think Illinois has got a little bit better weather than California, so I'm not too happy about that, right? They say May, Gray and June gloom has not been too good for us, so it's not starting out too well in June, but thank you for traveling all the way from Illinois to be here. Also, he has a couple of his best friends that are here, which is Brad and Paul. I mean, Paul and Jake, right? Thank you for being here as well. All right, when John was submitting his request for fleet reserves, he said, I said, hey, that's awesome. Just make sure you have everything in order. All right? And that he did. And I said, if you're planning a ceremony, just let me know when it will be, and I'll be there. All right? Now, with that being said, my hopes would be that he would ask me to read the CPO creed, the retirement creed, and I'd be like, okay, that's good. Then I heard Jules was reading it, and so I guess he took my glory there. Thanks, Jules. All right? So then I said, okay, well, maybe I'll just be a guest in the audience, right? That's even better, right? I'll be here, be able to enjoy this great ceremony, and then eat all the great food that John's going to pay for. Nope, I guess I was too good for that job as well. So here I am, he says, hey, would you mind being my guest speaker? And I said, me? All right? This old country boy from Texas that hates public speaking? And he said, yes, yes, you. Right? And I said, okay, I'll do that. Now, there's three reasons why usually someone's going to ask you to be their guest speaker, right? And I kind of rolled him down here. And so one of the things you would hope that is not is that it's actually your last hope, right? Everybody else has failed and bailed out on him, and so you would hope that you're not the last reason why you're being asked to be the guest speaker. But those three reasons, one, they respect you, and they know you have something relevant to say. They also know you're only going to say good things about them, right? And that's what he made sure is to make sure you say some good stuff. I said, okay. And number three, you know them better than anyone else, right? So again, I was a little nervous about living up to number one and two, and I must admit I needed some help with number three, but I would do my best. All right, to give a little backstory about me and John, I first met John when I assumed the duties of Command Master Chief on the base in Yakuza, Japan in 2016. I arrived there only to find out that the commanding officer had just been relieved of command without a ban. Now, in civilian terms, what does that mean? He's been fired, right? My first thought was, man, the chief mess must be broken if their CO just got fired. I said, what in the heck was I walking into? So I tapped into my former master of arms investigator skills, and the first group I sat down with was the largest department I had, which was security. I wanted to know what was going on. I knew they would not be shy and tell me, and they did not disappoint me. A lot was going on on the base at that time. So of course, John was a lowly old chief then, right, in the department, and surely was not going to walk into the CMC's office by himself and let me know how the command was at the time. But what I do remember is John taking the smooth approach, right? He would pick his moments to let me know what was really going on and how things were functioning in command. Well, a couple of months later, John was selected for Senior Chief Petty Officer. For those of you that know, when you become an even number chief, you have nothing and no one to hide behind. You're the chosen one. Well, John still had another Senior Chief, which was a Senior to him at the time, and he still had to tread lightly. John and I would often have many conversations about how I needed him to still be that Senior Chief that was needed not just in security, but in the command as well. He did just that. He qualified command duty officer for the base, which all my MAs hated to do. Isn't that right, Megan? What made you that? All right, Molly? They hated qualifying CDO. They thought the owner should do security, but that's okay, right? He qualified that. He also became one of the elected members of our CPO Association, right? So he did a great job for us there. And so the moral to that is he found out other ways to be relevant, even though he wasn't in the top position. So thank you for that, John. All right, so we fast-forwarded a little bit. John finally got his chance, right? He's now in a DLCPO for security. This is where I needed some help to know more about John. I would only see one side of John, and rightfully so. But what was happening really behind the scenes at the security department? So I have a little prop here, right? And he'll probably know what this means. He'll sit there right there, right? You probably know where that's going, huh? All right, so I reached out to a few of his former shipmates. So Megan and Molly, I know you guys can bag me up on this. I asked them, how was John in the department? I was told at some point that John was put on one monster drink a day restriction. I won't go into why he was put on that, but if you know John, you know why he was put on that. He's high speed, right? And don't need no more added sugar to be able to do that, okay? He also said sometimes you would have to have a translator for John. Because he would not complete his sentence, but there was always someone there to interpret what he was really trying to say, all right? So the moral of that is broken words along with the right actions will get you the right message across. And so for John, I thank you for being there and doing that in the security department, all right? So to John, from Amanda Davis, right? Scott Fiss and Mark Hicks, they all send their congrats and heartfelt thanks for your dedication and mentorship that you provided to them. So thank you for that. Marjorie, they also said they don't know how you kept all that white and pink around John. Can't believe it. I got a little stuttered by that, I'm going to talk about it afterwards, right? All right, John always wanted to know from me if he was doing the right thing by his sailors to include the chiefs. He did not want to mess up, and I concede in him that he did not want to disappoint the leadership or his sailors. To paint a more distinct picture of what we were dealing with in Japan during that time, we were dealing with a lot of alcohol-related incidents, right? Most of Japan was on restricted liberty hours, right? That means we had to be in our residence at a certain time. We couldn't drink alcohol, we couldn't partake in anything after hours. And so John and the security department had a huge task on their hand when they came to that and making sure the base stayed secure and safe during that time. And I will say John and his team were always working hard to make sure everyone was safe while in Japan. So, to the junior officers and the sailors and chiefs that have served with John, I hope you can take away from his career path that you have to be dedicated to the mission and always train and lead sailors the right way. This is the charge I leave to you, and I'm sure John has left you as well. As any military member, we know that if you have stood the test of time in the military, it is not done alone. It was definitely for and with the support of family. So for Marjorie, Edry, and Tim, your husband and father have told and showed me on many occasions that you were the source of his motivation. Marjorie, it is also very evident that it wasn't, if it wasn't for your unwavering support, he would not be as successful as he's been today. I salute you, and I thank you. Now, I think I'm going to test my old chief's memories back there, so you guys help me out if you remember this. So what was one of the things that we did after each CPO meeting? You remember? All right. Okay, so we would get there, right? And we would have our meetings, right? We had our meetings every Friday, Friday morning, and so I tasked the new chiefs that year, right, to come up with a slogan to kind of give us some spirit to core, because remember I told you I got to the command and the CIO had just got fired, and the chief mess was almost in a little bit of disarray, right? And it was kind of like something to just kind of bring us back together. So one of the things was, I said, hey, we're going to recite the Sailor's Creed, because the Sailor's Creed has a lot of great attributes in it that we should be doing on a daily basis, and it doesn't just stop at the E6, right? It carries on through every rank in the military. So we was at the end of each meeting, we would actually stay inside through the Sailor's Creed. And at the end, I would say, CPO's! And the chiefs would say, stay relevant. And that had a real big meaning that I wanted them to carry forward and saying that, hey, we got to stay relevant each and every day, no matter if we're wearing the uniform or not, right? So this is summed up John's career. John, you have stayed relevant in the Navy for over 20 years. It is time to pass the torch. So congratulations on a successful and relevant career. So I have your starter kit for being retiree, right? That's another thing I have here for you. So one, you can have your monsters, right? You can have more than one a day. That's up to you, right? I don't know if more of you can deal with you after that. So, you've got to have a retirement sticker, right? So that's a retirement sticker, right? You can put it on your car, right? You've got to have the hat, right? That says scene chief on it, right? Now, if you want to put a retired on there, you can. That's up to you, right? I didn't know if you wanted it on there, so I didn't put it on there. And knowing that you have an extension of you being in the military, you've got to have this on your vehicle as well, right? Seeing your son is in the Navy. So this is your official retirement starter kit, right? That your legacy will be carried on. So, again, thank you, John, for that win. Well, the guests, please rise for the award presentation. Military personnel, attention to award. This is to certify that the Secretary of the Navy has awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal Gold Star in lieu of Seventh Award to Senior Chief Massad Arm, Surface Warfare John J. Lucosis, United States Navy, and ships made in deployment to the Seventh Fleet area of operations. His mentorship resulted in four advancements and 10 personnel recognition awards. Additionally, he managed the morale, welfare, and recreation funds ensuring oversight on all purchases, scoring a 90% on a Commander Navy installation's command-led inspection. His superior performance of duties highlights the culmination of 26 years of honorable and dedicated service. By his unswerving determination, wise judgment, and complete dedication to duty, Senior Chief Lucosis reflected credit upon himself and upheld the traditions of the United States Naval Service. Given this second day of June 2023, for the Secretary of the Navy, J.C. Key Fiber, Captain, United States Navy, Commanding Officer, U.S.S. Tripoli, Military personnel and guests, please be seated. Before we proceed with presenting certificates of appreciation to Senior Chief Lucosis' family, I will now read Creating the Navy Wife. Creating the Navy Wife. When the good Lord was creating the Navy wives, he was into the sixth day of overtime. An angel appeared and said, Are you having a lot of trouble with this one? What's wrong with the standard model? The Lord replied, Have you seen the specifications on this order? She has to be completely independent. Have the quality of both mother and father during cruises. Be a perfect hostess to 40 or 40. Run on black coffee. Handle emergencies without a buper's manual. Be able to handle the flu. Birthdays and move around the world if need to be on moments' notice. Have a kiss that can heal anything from a child's torn valentine to her husband's weary day. Have the patience of a saint when waiting for the ship to come in and have six pairs of hands. The angel shook her head slowly and said, Six pairs of hands, no way. And the Lord answering, Don't worry, we'll create other Navy wives to help. Besides, it's not the hands that are causing the problem. It's the heart. The heart must swell with pride in her husband. Sustain the ache of separations. Be on soundly and strongly when it's too tired to do so. And be large enough to say, I understand when she really doesn't and say I love you regardless. Lord said the angel touching his sleeve gently. Come to bed. You can finish this tomorrow. I can't, said the Lord. I'm so close to creating something unique. Already I have one that heals herself when she is sick. Can feed three unexpected guests who are stuck in the area due to bad weather. And can wave goodbye to her husband from a pier or runway and fully understand that it is important to our country that he leaves. The angel circled the model of the Navy wife very slowly. It's too soft, she sighed. But tough, said the Lord, excitedly. You cannot image what this woman can do or endure. Can she think? Asked the angel. Can she think why she can convert 1400 to 2 p.m.? Finally the angel bent over and gently ran her fingers across the model's cheek. There's a leak, she pronounced. I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model. It's not a leak, said the Lord. It's a tear. What for? asked the angel. It's for joy, sadness, pain, disappointment, loneliness, and pride. You're a genius, explained the angel. The Lord looked somberly at the angel and replied, I didn't put it there. Usher's, please escort M.A.C.S. Lucosis mother, Paulette, son, Lieutenant J.G. Edgier-Pilla, son, Timothy, and wife, Marjorie Ford. Certificate of appreciation from the United States Navy, to all shall see these present greetings. By authority vested in me, it's my pleasure to express the grateful appreciation of the United States Navy to you for your unselfish patriotic and devoted service during your husband's military career. Your unfailing support and understanding helped immeasurably to make possible his lasting contributions to the Navy. Excuse me, to the nation. To those who say a single man cannot make a difference, I say wrong. Your husband did. He made our Navy stronger and kept our nation safe. With his service to the nation now complete, he will be able to spend more time with you in the future. The United States Navy thanks you and I thank you. Given the second day of June 2023, J.C. Kefauber, Captain United States Navy, commanding officer, U.S.S. Tripoli. Certificate of appreciation from the United States Navy, by authority vested in me, it is my pleasure to express the grateful appreciation of the United States Navy to you for your unselfish patriotic and devoted service during your son's military career. Your unfailing support and understanding helped immeasurably to make possible his lasting contributions to the nation. To those who say a single man cannot make a difference, I say wrong. Your son did. He made our Navy stronger and kept our nation safe. With his service to the Navy now complete, he will be able to spend more time with you in the future. The United States Navy thanks you and I thank you. Given the second day of June 2023, J.C. Kefauber, Captain United States Navy, commanding officer, U.S.S. Tripoli. In addition, certificates of appreciation are being presented to Senior Chief Locosa's son Timothy and Lieutenant J.G. Edry or Piller. Usher's, please escort Senior Chief Locosa's family back to their seats. The tradition of presenting a shadow box to a retiring sailor is born of early British custom. In the days of sail when British ruled the seas, he considered bad luck for a sailor upon final departure from a ship to allow a shadow to hit the pier before he himself departed the ship. In order to ensure no such misfortune would befall their shipmate, the crew would construct a box of the finest timber and place within it all the things that reflected his accomplishments. Only then could the man with the shadow of himself in hand safely depart the ship and go ashore once and for all. Master Chief Select, Patrick Parigi will now present Senior Chief Locosa's with his shadow box. The flag passing ceremony is a commemoration event during which time the United States flag is passed from hand to hand ascending by rank. The flag signifies the ending of one career in the beginning of another. It represents all of the ranks under which MACS Locosa's has served from many flag poles, jackstaffs, and main mast. It has flown over him and his shipmates as they stood their watch. It has covered the caskets of shipmates who have given the last full measure of devotion. This flag is presented to Senior Chief Locosa's token of appreciation of a grateful navy and nation. Senior Chief Duane Smith will now read Old Glory. I am the flag of the United States of America. My name is Old Glory. I fly atop the world's tallest buildings. I stand watching America's halls of justice. I fly majestically over great institutions of learning. I stand guard with the greatest military power in the world. Look up and see me. I stand for peace, honor, truth, and justice. I stand for freedom. I am confident. I am arrogant. I am proud. When I'm flown with my fellow banners, my head is a little higher. My colors a little truer. I bow to no one. I am recognized all over the world. I am worshiped. I am saluted. I am respected. I am revered. I am loved. And I am feared. I have fought in every battle of every war for more than 200 years. Gettysburg. Shiloh. Appomattox. San Juan Hill. The trenches of France. The Argonne Forest. Anzio. Rome. The beaches of Normandy. Guam. Okinawa. Tarawa. Korea. Vietnam. The Persian Gulf. And a score of places long forgotten by all except by those who were there with me. I was there. I led my sailors and Marines. I followed them. I watched over them. They loved me. I was in a small hill in Iwo Jima. I was dirty. Battle-worn. Entire. But my sailors and Marines cheered me. And I was proud. I was at Ground Zero in New York City on September 11th as Carol Lee Fanatics attacked America. I was raised from the ashes of once-proud buildings by brave firefighters. Heroes who risked their lives to save others showing all that America, although bloody, will never be beaten. Those who would destroy me can now. I've slipped the surely bonds of Earth and from my vantage point on the moon I stand watch over the uncharted new frontiers of space. I've been a silent witness to all of America's finest hours. But my finest hour comes when I'm torn in strips to be used as bandages for my wounded comrades on the battlefield. When I fly half-mass to honor my soldiers and when I line the trembling arms of a grieving mother on the grave site of her fallen son or daughter, I am proud. My name is O'Glory. Long may I wave, dear God. Long may I wave. Flag detail. Post. Ladies and gentlemen, M-A-C-S, John Lucostes. And a Commander, Garcia. Chaps, thank you for being here. CMC Matt Lozden, thank you. So, when I knew that I was taking the plunge to retire, basically I said, I am going to have a retirement ceremony. Wanted to prepare a speech or do I write it down? Do I take it on the computer? So I started three months ago. Didn't do much with it. But then, about a week ago, I started. So, a lot of stuff in my career happened. Good to bad, okay, but we went on. And I'm at the point where I made the decision to retire. My wife was there behind me and this is what we're doing. It's real now, so we're moving on. So, 26 years ago, I left home. I'm from Mesa, Arizona. I left for boot camp six days after graduation. The story was, my mom raised me by myself or by herself. I was the only child. So, the Navy is going to give me money to go to school, all the great stuff. But my mom said, hey, you should probably look at something. Go do something for yourself. I can't always provide everything for you, but it's time to be, you know, an adult. So, you got to do what you got to do. I had a 1980 CJ7 that I left in the garage when I left for boot camp. After boot camp, it came back and it was gone. So, I guess that's the idea of becoming an adult. But you know what, thank you for showing me the way. I started out as an undesignated fireman. I went to the USS Boxer. I had really no mechanical experience growing up. Mom always, we hired a handyman. I didn't need to, you know, have a wrench or that kind of stuff. However, tools and their uses in the Navy was a friend of mine when I first went to the Boxer. I did the course. It was great. But I learned. It was there. I met BT1, Al Terribola, who's right here. Thank you. You showed me the way. You showed me how to stick it out and then a good future will be ahead. So, thank you for that. Also, Al introduced me to my wife, Marjorie. Marjorie worked at McDonald's and she sold me a quarter pounder with cheese, no onions. And we were, you know, we were married after that. So, you know, I say that. And that's kind of what happened. We dated. We got married. You know what? And so I don't think she knew what she was getting into. I don't think I knew what I was getting into coming into the Navy and then getting married. And then holy cow, rings on your finger. You go home and then you go under way. Okay. But she had the help of her auntie and uncle who was in the Navy and who, you know, told her, you know, what she would endure, what would be the future. So, after us getting married, I had a chief engineer who all of a sudden helped me become an MA. His nickname was the Godfather. So, he made me an MA. I went to Fallon, Nevada. I don't know if anybody here has been to Fallon, Nevada. It's a desert and a very interesting place. At the time we were there and there was some arsenic in the water and there was children getting sick. We completed almost 24 months and then we were sent back to Navy Region Southwest Harbor Unit because Edry was getting sick a lot. So, they basically did a hums into the Navy Region. So, we went back to San Diego. We were familiar with San Diego. So, it was good that we were back home again as Margie would say, San Diego, right? So, we were there for about two and a half, three years in San Diego and then the detailer said, where do you want to go? And I said Japan. So, didn't know anything about Masawa, Japan. So, we headed up to an island in Hokkaido called Masawa, Japan, actually Honshu. Sorry. Honshu is the island in the very north. Very cold, like New England winters. Very desolate. It's an air force base. And we went there and there was 12 foot of snow that first day when we landed. My sponsor didn't show up at the airport. I didn't know how my family and I with seven suitcases were going to get to the Navy Inn where we so called had a reservation. All of a sudden, my sponsor's wife shows up with three kids and says, I'm here to pick you up, okay? I'll take you to the Masawa Inn. We get to the Masawa Inn, there's no reservation. They said, sorry, sir, you were supposed to be here after 1600. It was like 1800 or something like that. And other day, where am I going for the night? So, that happened. We dealt with it. We moved on, right? That's what we do. Everything was fine there. But that place was a little bit small. And we ended up doing about almost three years there. We came back to San Diego. And I was over at Mobile Security. So, right, it was Meret Marek-Sekron 3. I started in debt 31 where I met Master Chief Retired Felicano, who is my CMC. Thank you for coming. And I didn't have housing yet. So, I came back from Masawa. I was on the housing list. I was like number 84 on the housing list. And that would have been a long time to move in. I talked to my CMC. Ed helped me out. And I say thank you again, okay? But all it was was a phone call. So, that's the thing that Chiefs do. And we did it. And we got a house right away. We moved in. Then I departed for deployment in Bahrain. And I couldn't tell my wife where I was going. I went on a submarine. It was supposed to be 13 days and it lasted 8-7. That was Christmas. She was pregnant. So, she did that time by herself. You know, that's a hard deal to carry a baby, to go to your appointments to do all that stuff. So, you're strong. Thank you. At that time, Edry, my oldest, got into high tech middle school. Okay? And that was a big feat because it was a lottery system. It was very hard to get into because anybody can just not go in. So, he got in. And all of a sudden, the detailer called and said, hey, I got a detailing spot in Millington, Tennessee, and I need you to take it right now. And I had to say, hey, we're leaving to Millington, Tennessee. And Marjorie said, Tennessee. And I said, yeah, are you ready? We got, you know, farmland. It's going to be fun. So, Edry didn't go to high tech. Okay? So, I was constantly reminded like, hey, you know, you were on shore duty. What are you doing? Well, yeah, I'm going to another. I was sea duty. Then I'm going to another shore duty. So, that's what happened. We went. I was in Millington, Tennessee as a detailer. I checked the board and came home and I told my wife, hey, it's great here. I love it here. It's nice. There's barbecue everywhere. People are friendly and they all ask you if you want some sweet tea. So, I loved it. I told her I would never deploy from here. That's just not going to happen on shore duty. And she said, okay, two weeks later, I took orders as an IA, individual augmentee for 12 months to Guantanamo Bay Cuba. So, again, I moved my family 30 days before the Millington flood in 2011, back to San Diego. If we would have stayed, we would have lost all our household goods and everything like that. So, you know, sorry it happened, but good things kind of happened sometimes. So, but yeah, we move them back. I went away to Guantanamo Bay Cuba. It was a tough situation. They stayed with family and friends back and forth. You know, that wasn't a great situation, but guess what? Thank you. You guys did it. I told you before, you know, it was hard, but thank you. So, I came back from Guantanamo Bay. I made chief. That time I told Marjorie, hey, you need to come back to Millington, Tennessee. She came back. We drove back. We got to the place, you know, late at night. The next morning, my mass chief called and said, congratulations, you made your home. Well, you're going through the season, so good luck with your household goods. Okay? That next day, the household goods came. The chief's mess told me, don't worry about it. They helped Marjorie get the household goods inside the house and set up. So, that's the power of the mess. So, I'm very thankful for that, but I'm thankful to you that you, you know, did it. And, Edry, I'm sure, helped carry Timothy. So, after my one year back in Millington, we went to Sasebo, Japan. It was a station on the Tortuga in Ashland. Great place, Sasebo, for family. So, it was a great time there. I didn't know much about Sasebo. We were always, you know, on deployment. Every three months, we'd go out and back, you know. That was the good life, FDNF style, because we were hitting ports, right? Liberty, Seventh Fleet, all right? And joke, you know, Liberty. But anyways, so, that's our inside joke. But I knew more about Okinawa than Sasebo, okay? You know, at that, I called the Detailer after that, and it was time to go to shore duty. And the Detailer wouldn't work with me to get Sasebo. It was Edry's senior year approaching and said, no, you're going to Yakuza. Okay, so, you know, I had to take it. I think maybe Edry Marjorie didn't talk to me for about 30 days, okay? But, you know, I understand the frustration. But this is the, you know, nature of it. This is the Navy. But they all handled it very well. It was great. Eventually, Yakuza grew on them, and we did what we had to do. We met some great people in Yakuza who are family toasting. So, your senior year was done in Yakuza, okay? And we know that, you know, you turned out well. Your Lieutenant J.G. flying the T-6 Bravo right now in school. So, you know, good job. After Yakuza, I went to Diego Garcia for a year. I had a 12 months dependent restricted tour. I moved back Marjorie and Timothy to San Diego, and she handled it. It was hard, you know, but you did it. So, I say thank you. After the year was up, I headed to NTIS, and it was a great tour. I learned a lot, however, I wasn't content. I wanted to get out of there, so I terminated my shore. Marjorie and I, you know, talked about it, and she said, please don't. You know, you're spending time with me. It's great. But I didn't listen. I terminated my shore, and I ended up orders to Bahrain. So, guess what? Medical wouldn't take me in Bahrain, so they sent me to the USS Tripoli. So, you know, you get what you ask for. Some people have to suffer, but it's not anymore. So thank you. We're not done with this, but thank you. I will miss a lot of things in the Navy from, you know, the waters, mess meetings, Navy chow, the coffee and the chief's mess, raking boards, the tough discussions, and of course, the liberty. But my family needs me, and I'm going home. At this time, I want to say thank you to those who have helped me, and who are here today. Chaps, thank you for rogering up right away when I asked you to be the chaplain. Lieutenant Commander Garcia, last minute, but you were always there for me as my department head, and I knew you were going to be here. So you were my first choice. I had you and my old captain from DAO Garcia. However, there was always an excuse, and I know that you wouldn't put up any excuses. So thank you for doing this. It means a lot, thank you. And I'm sure you're missing a game that you're umpiring. Okay, thank you. Where are you at, Pat? Thank you. This wasn't an easy task for being the coordinator for a retirement ceremony on a ship. There's a lot of stuff going on. I don't expect the ship to stop. It's not, okay, but you took it by the horns and you got it done. Ray, thank you for being the emcee. Jules, retirement crew, thank you for stepping up. You got to have your other. HM3 Reed Allen, thank you. For the Star Spangled Banner. Thank you. Side boys, thank you. Right away when I asked, you guys said yes, all of you. I've served with you in some way. Honor Guard, thank you NC1 for your team. Senior Chief, thank you. Flag detail, the flag detail I chose. Okay, in some way or form, you guys helped me out or there was something going on that we connected. So I said, hey, I went through my flag detail. Thank you. Al, thank you for that lasting motivation and telling me I could get through it and introducing me to Marjorie. Paul Kizava and your son Jake, thank you for flying here from Costa Rica. Right? You were on vacation in Costa Rica but you decided, hey, Jake, thank you and my cousin Brad, thank you. They were at my boot camp graduation. Paul couldn't make it because he was at MCRD going through boot camp and thank you for being here. Hello, Mario and Auntie Edna. Thank you for always giving the same advice and helping us along the way that there is a future after the Navy and just our talks when I was a young MA2 in the garage and we were watching baseball games and drinking some beer. Auntie, thank you. So Mom Evelyn, thank you. Thank you for always being there. Kevin, thank you for being the dad. Not biological but you're always there, okay? Every duty station, you're there to take my mom. To my mom, you showed me what it was like being a hard worker. You made it look easy raising me by yourself. It wasn't always easy, I understand but you showed me the way and how to do it. Like I said, every base you went to or every base I went to, except Japan but it's fine, maybe someday we can go visit. Thank you for being tough on me so I could accomplish something. So I say that because she was tough on me but my friends would be over and it was like they were her kids but she was tough on me. So, okay, I'll just leave it at that. Thank you, Mom. We can now have some holidays together. Tiffany, so we've known each other that's what, seventh grade? I think when Edger and you guys were off screen. So I just want to say thank you for being here. Thank you for being with him and we welcome you. Thank you for always understanding that you had a job to do, right? It wasn't easy being alone and not being able to do sports after a certain time but you did it on your own. You did a lot of stuff. I left and you just got a skateboard and when I come back now you're all in and you're doing all these other tricks and you had to teach yourself. So there's stuff that you missed. Thank you, but we could do more. Edgery, so this one, so thank you for always picking up and starting over when I had new orders. You never finished a school year? I think in elementary, okay. But you did it and you didn't complain. Given the Navy all you got. To my wife, Marjorie, I alluded to all the times that you held the family together. Our hardest deployment was probably this last one, okay, but you still did it. So we're here today to thank you for your service being a Navy spouse. I have something to read. Just bear with me, please. So the wife's watch, while her sailor answered the call from the sea, she stood on the shore fighting down the fear that he would not return. In his absence, she had to deal with car repairs in Diego Garcia that happened. I was home maintenance, financial worries, children's injuries and illness, all these and more. She has taken in stride so that her sailor could proudly serve our nation. Today the side boys are posted and the bossen stands ready to pipe, and as she has for so many years, a sailor's wife stands waiting on the shore. Soon the pipe will sound and her sailor will come ashore for the last time. His watch stands relieved. So too does hers. We gratefully honor her courage and steadfastness and offer our best to the both of them for the new life they now begin. It shows that I always had your support, unending loyalty and love. We did this and I'm coming home. I love you. Mr. Julius Gomez will now read the CPO retirement creed. Will the chiefs stand at attention and pass and present chiefs for reading of the CPO retirement creed? The chief, Harry Opposers, retirement creed. John, my brother. You have on this day experience that which comes to all of us who serve on active duty in our Navy. I say our Navy because children departure from active duty in no way terminates your relationship, your guard or obligation to the United States Navy in your fellow chief, Harry Opposers. By law and tradition, U.S. Navy retirees are always on the rolls, ever ready to lend their service when the need arises. The respect that you've earned as the chief was based on the same attributes that you will now carry into retirement. You should have no regrets. It should not view your retirement as an end of an era, but rather as orders to a new and challenging assignment to a form of unindependent duty. Remember well, my brother, that you have been and will always be an accepted member of the most exclusive of all fraternities, not all, the U.S. Navy, chief, Harry Opposers, active duty chiefs, salute you. Chief, Harry Opposers, and salute. Ready, two, you retired chiefs, welcome. John, my brother, we wish you and your family the traditional fair wins and followings. Navy chiefs. Navy chiefs. Navy chiefs. We are. M.A.C.S. Leucosis, front and center. Lieutenant J.G. Edgey Orpheila will now read the watch. No year in the storm clouds of war will seem brewing in the revival of history. Wish it may stood in the hold and stood in the watch for 26 years. Watch so that we are family that seem family and safely each and every night knowing that a failure stood a lot. Today, we are here to say, shipmate, the watch stands relieved. Relieved by those who have trained, guided, and led. To your chief Leucosis, you stand relieved. I have the watch. Leucosis, post aside boys. I will now read M.A.C.S. Leucosis retirement orders. Uper's orders 3082 dated 4 November 2022. Official retirement orders for senior chief John Leucosis, United States Navy. Your request to be transferred to the retired list was approved by the secretary of the Navy, effective 30 June 2023. When directed by reporting senior, detached from U.S.S. Tripoli, permanent duty station San Diego, California, proceed to home of selection. Relieved of all active duty, effective 2359, on date of detachment. Ladies and gentlemen, Lieutenant Commander Garcia will now present senior chief Leucosis with his certificate of retirement. From the armed forces of United States of America to all who shall see these present greetings, this is to certify that senior chief John Leucosis, having served faithfully and honorably, was retired from the United States Navy on the second day of June 2023. Signed A. Halsley, Rear Admiral, United States Navy Chief of Navy Personnel. Mushers come forward. Will the guests please rise and remain standing for the benediction by Chapman Willeford and for the final piping over the side. Let us pray our Father in Heaven, we thank you today for this ceremony. I pray to God for John, Marjorie, Edry and Timothy. As they begin their life, for the first time in many years, with the outside the United States Navy. I pray Father that you would bless him and his decisions for his life and for his family and God that their future would be brighter than their past and that their most wonderful days would be better than their past days and their past years. Watch over them, bless them and guide them. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. The piping over the side ceremony you're about to witness is very brief. It consists of senior chief leucosis walking between two rows of side boys and saluting as the bosson pipe is sounded. Do not be misled by either its brevity or simplicity. Although short and uncomplicated, this ceremony is rooted in hundreds of years of naval tradition and is considered by most of us to be the single most important event in a sailor's career. Being piped over the side signals the beginning of the transition from familiarity and brotherhood of life in uniform to an unfamiliar and unknown life in civilian clothes. With permission granted from the presiding officer, senior chief leucosis will go ashore for the last time. As senior chief leucosis walks across a ceremonial quarter day, he will in the short distance of about 20 feet complete a portion of a path linking the past to the future. It's a path that hundreds of thousands of seafarers have walked over the centuries. Senior chief leucosis will now ask permission to go ashore. All chief petty officers past and present, please fall in with the side boys.