 This doesn't mean that it's okay now to screw it up with the spine. Remember, remember it's being recorded. Anybody else coming in? I just wanted to let everyone know. They were like traveling. Alright everyone, good afternoon. I am Ben Pearson, I'm the Command Senior Chief here at the War College. In lieu of or celebrating our birthday in CPO 365, we're going to do a presentation today on the USS Chief. We don't have the Senior Enlisted Academy class here, which kind of ruins my opening joke or icebreaker. But we've got a good variety of Chiefs. We've got some retired Chiefs I see, retired Master Chiefs, our active folks. We don't have our brothers or sisters from the other services, but we do have a group of prospective Chiefs as well for all the first classes that are here. So again, good group. We're going to go over some things. USS Chief, the history of it, and then celebrate our birthday as well. So there'll be some neat stuff that goes on today. Bear with us, some of us. This is our first time presenting. But I promise you it's going to be a good presentation. We're actually recording as well. If you want to make some noise at the end and all that kind of fun stuff, please do. I'm going to turn it over to YN1 Terrell, and he's going to give introductions. Thank you, Senior. Good afternoon. I would like to welcome you all to our presentation of the USS Chief. I would like to first start off by introducing our group members. First, from the Naval War College, myself, YN1 Terrell, YN1 Hood, YN1 Tapote, and YN1 Morse. From Naval Station Newport, it's going to be GM1 Lucas, NC1 Jones. And from Naval Health Clinic, New England, HM1 Perez. Attention to the Salish Creed. YN1 is the President and President of the United States of America. And I will obey the Order of the Pillars of Pointy-Dovely. I wear a suit at the Bible spirit of the Navy, and those who come for me have been freedom and democracy around the world. I proudly serve my country's Navy combat team with honor, courage and commitment. I am committed to the excellence and the character of the law. Thank you. I would like to introduce our first presenter. It's going to be YN1 Hood. Good afternoon. I'm going to be covering the first USS Chief, AMC 67. It's more commonly known as USS Bold, but it was originally named USS Chief. But back in the 1940s, they actually had a tradition where they were naming all of the ships after characterizations. So it was renamed to the USS Bold in May 1941. It was turned over to the Navy in May 1942. And to present, the next is USS Chief, AM315, is going to be H1 Perez. Good afternoon. I'm H1 Perez Mendes, and I'm going to be talking about the second USS Chief. The second USS Chief was an awk class minesweeper. It was named after Chief after being ahead of a group, leader of a group. It was originally intended to be in the service of Great Britain as HMS Alice BAM1. It was reclassified USS Chief, AM315 in January 1943. It was commissioned in October of 1943. Its crew was 100 sailors, its max speeds was 18 knots. In February of 1973, the USS Chief was sold to the Mexican Navy, and it was renamed the ARM Jesus Gonzales Ortega C93. And it still remains in service with the Mexican Navy 72 years after first being built. To talk about the World War II service of the USS Chief, I'd like to introduce GM1 Lucas. Thank you, H1. Good afternoon. I'm GM1 Lucas. Today we'll be speaking briefly over the courageous events of World War II as it pertains to the USS Chief. Under the command of Lieutenant Commander Wycoff, the USS Chief departed San Diego in December of 1943 to head to Hawaii for our training and exercises. The training and exercises we cut short, though. In January of 1944, they stamed Cuella Jean Atoll in support of the battle where they performed the anti-submarine patrol and the convoy duties to the Inwin-Takatoll. This was the first time the American forces had broken through the Japan Pacific Sphere to establish a foothold for our invasion forces. In February, the Chief returned to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Upon completing her repairs, she continued her exercises in the Hawaiian waters. When then she was tasked in June to join Task Force 1952 in the Inwin-Takatoll, where she performed the mine clearing duties and fire support for the Vajians of Saipan and Tinian. In August, she then returned to Pearl Harbor escorting the cargo ship to Grassy, then returned to San Francisco for overhaul. After a short break in the yards, she then returned to the Hawaiian waters for more training. In May of 1945, she steamed towards Okinawa, Japan, where she was a flagship for the Hydrographic Survey of Utenko and developed the Minecraft Typhoon Anchorage. She remained there until August, where she then steamed to Wakama, Japan, and formed occupational duties until September, excuse me, until October where she then remained on occupational duty until the 10th of March, 1946. She returned to San Francisco during that time, and she received five battle sports for her valorous actions during World War II. On the 17th of March, 1947, she was placed out of commission and placed on reserve until the cry of battle called her again. Tell you that story, I'll turn it over to pay Officer Jones. Thank you, Jim. In 1952, the USS Chief was brought back into service after being decommissioned for five years to support the United States' efforts in the Korean War. In August of 1952, the ship arrived in the war zone where it joined other ships in the Mine Division in and around Wusan Harbor. The primary task of these ships were to sweep the channels and harbors to allow larger vessels access for naval gunfire support. The USS Chief was awarded two battle stars for the two tours it completed after being decommissioned in 1954. I'll now turn the floor over to Ian Wintepote to talk about the last and final USS Chief. Afternoon, I'm Ian Wintepote. Talked about the USS Chief, MCM 14. She was the third ship to bear the name and the last of the 14 Avenger-class-type ships. In earlier times, they were called Mine Sweepers, lemalas, Mine Destroyers, Mine Killers, Mine Hunters. And we know them as now as Mine Sweepers. Mine Sweepers are completely made out of wood. Because of this, they don't have a magnetic signature. So they can safely cross over mine-filled waters and not blow up. So the type of mines that they look for is floating, moored, and bottom. And the goal of these ships is to find them and destroy them. The types of equipment that they use to complete these tasks is all from sonar, remote control, mini submarines, equipped with video cameras, and a self-propelled acoustic device that sends these pulses of noise through the water. And any mine that's close by will detonate. They also have magnetic-influenced cables that they tow behind the ship. They pass electricity through them. And they create a magnetic signature or as to simulate a carrier or a destroyer, amphibs. And it will set off any type of mine that's close by. So you see, our mine countermeasures ships were very important. They still are today. Before our sailors and Marines hit shore, before they hit the beach, before we go into hostile waters, these ships are there to clear the passageway for us. Now, the USS Chief's Kill was laid on 19th of August, 1991 out of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, built by Peterson shipbuilders. She was christened by Mrs. Susan Bushy, the sponsor of the ship. And she's also the wife of the seventh McPon, Master Chief Bushy. Later on, after receiving her on behalf of the Navy, she was commissioned on November 4th, by my last November 5th, 1994, by her first captain and crew, Lieutenant Commander Timothy Garrell. And now I'd like to show you a short video on the commissioning of the USS Chief. Thank you. In the Navy, the word chief is associated with an enlisted sailor, who's moved up the ranks and earned the title Chief Petty Officer. But recently, the Navy welcomed a distinctly different type of chief, the mine sweeping countermeasures ship USS Chief. This chief became a welcome addition to the Navy's Atlantic Fleet in a commissioning ceremony on November 5th at the Little Creek Amphibious Base in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Opening this ceremony was the officer in charge of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin's supervisor of shipbuilding, Lieutenant Commander Thomas Schotter. I'm particularly honored today to participate in Chief's Coming of Age for several reasons. First, because her name is Chief, honoring all the Navy's Chief Petty Officers past, present, and future. Second, because Chief is sadly the last of the Avenger class mine countermeasures ships. The Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, John Hagen, then spoke, explaining why Chiefs are such an important part of our naval force. History and tradition are vitally important to Chief Petty Officers in the Navy. We are not just middle managers of a great corporation, but leaders of a truly great institution. Virginia Congressman Owen Pickett echoed Master Chief Hagen's remarks. It is the Chiefs that symbolize and perpetuate and teach this element of pride to the people that they manage and the ones that they train to carry on the traditions of the United States Navy. After the ship's crew boarded their new vessel, the USS Chief's commanding officer gained some advice from a special Chief, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Mike Borda. You carry a special trust where your ship bears the name Chief, and she must embody all the great inspiring and wonderful name things that that name symbolizes. Lieutenant Commander Timothy Scott Gerald concluded the ceremony, mostly speaking about his crew. They took this fine ship to sea after an excellent light off exam and have operated her as though they have been doing it for years instead of only days. I could not be more proud of them. With a name like Chief, this new Navy ship should have nothing but success. Reporting from Norfolk, I'm Navy journalist Scott Matlock. Good morning, everyone. Why one more? Station Naval War College. Our guest speaker today, Professor Timothy S. Gerald, careers spanned over a press of 32 years, beginning in 1974 with this enlistment in the Navy. He reached a rank of STG II before he attended the Naval Academy via the BOOS program. Be like my last, 1974. He's a graduate of the Naval Academy, class of 1981. He served on numerous operational platforms. He was the pre-commissioned commanding officer of the USS Chief, MCM 14. He was also the commanding officer of the New York MEP station. He retired in 2006, where he began his tenure here at the Naval War College as the fleet seminar program manager. Please welcome to the stage, Professor Timothy S. Gerald. Well, thank you very much. This is a real honor today, but I have to start by saying that I think probably one of the biggest honors in my life was when I was assigned as the CEO of the USS Chief. Watching that video today, I haven't seen that since 1994. It's hard to believe it's been almost 20 years since we commissioned Chief, but, you know, watching the video today, I just keep, I'm reminded of how at every turn there was just an association with the Chief Petty Officer Corps, just an association with the Chief Petty Officer Corps. Master Chief Bushy, who was the chairman of the commissioning committee, he relayed to me a short story about how the ship was actually named in the first place. And it was as simple as the Secretary of the Navy, Lawrence Garrett, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Mike Borda, and Master Chief Bushy when he was mickpond, were sitting in the office one day, and the topic came up that they needed to name the last three or four ships in the Avenger class of minesweepers. And the Admiral Borda looked at Master Chief Bushy and said, do you remember your first Chief? And, of course, Master Chief Bushy did. And the CNO said, you know, I remember my first Chief. Why don't we name one of the ships Chief? And that's as simple as it was. That's exactly how the lineage traced back to the name for one of the last mine countermeasures ship being named Chief. Admiral Borda mentioned his first Chief. One of the topics in his remarks at the commissioning ceremony was your first Chief, and everyone remembers your first Chief, and that everybody in the Navy, everybody in the Navy has a Chief that they're associated with. I have some notes here. Well, let me back up for just a second. So Master Chief Bushy was my commissioning committee. My commissioning committee consisted of six former Master Chief Petty officers of the Navy. So as you can probably figure out, I didn't really have to do anything. So one of my good friends was the commissioning CEO of the USS Champion, number four. His commissioning committee was his sister and his mother. And so they were challenged. I mean, they contacted the Champion Spark Plug Company and asked for donations, and they contacted the Champion Sportswear Company and some other things. One of the most important things that any commissioning committee does, for those of you that haven't been associated with a commissioning crew or commissioning evolution, they raise money because the Navy only appropriates a certain amount of money for you to do the things that are nice to do during a commissioning ceremony. The commissioning committee because they're not, because they're not an official government entity, they can raise a lot of money. And believe me, six former MCPONs raised a lot of money, a ton of money. We had so much money that when the commissioning ceremony was completely done, there was a pot of money left over. And so there's actually a USS Chief Scholarship now, and it's managed through the Surflance Scholarship Fund. They put that whole pot of money in there. Maschi Bushi's wife, Sue, was the ship's sponsor. And I'm telling you, what a grand lady she was. She was the director of the Family Service Center in Norfolk, and then when she retired, she became the CNO named her as the Ombudsman at Large. Now, sadly, we lost Sue a couple of years ago, but she was just a wonderful, wonderful sponsor. And there's a, the ship's sponsor gives a gift to the ship when the ship is commissioned. And Sue gave one of the loan sailor statues, and he sits on the bridge of the chief up in the, right by the quarter master's table. And his nose is really shiny because they rub, at least they always did, they rub the loan sailor's nose for luck. So his nose was always shiny if the rest of him wasn't. Let's see, talked about it. Okay, so first chiefs. I wanna talk about first chiefs. So Admiral Borda named his, it was a chief by the name of George Everding. I've got a couple of first chiefs too. Because I was prior enlisted now, the first chief that I ran across the Navy, I'm gonna tell this quick sea story. The first chief I ran across the Navy, I had no idea who he was. Because in my senior year in high school, my dad and I had a conversation about me going to college the next year. And we both agreed that it was gonna be a waste of my time and his money. And I mean, I was an okay student, but not a real dedicated student. So he thought, well, maybe you should join the military for a while and thought, that would be a great idea. So I thought about it and I went back and forth and back and forth and I decided to join the Air Force. I liked what they were doing and wanted to have something to do with airplanes. So partway through the second half of my senior year in high school, I headed for the AFE station and the recruiting station in Bangor, Maine and to see the Air Force recruiters. Well, when I got there, the Air Force recruiter wasn't there. So I was sitting outside the Air Force office waiting and this Navy Chief Petty Officer came down the hallway and you can see where this is going. He said, oh, are you here to join the Air Force? I said, yeah, he said, great choice, great choice. And then he started asking me the questions. About to graduate from high school? Yeah, gonna graduate on time? My dad told me, say yes, sir to everyone. Yes, sir. And the Chief said, don't call me sir, I'm a Chief. I said, then he started asking, ever been in trouble? No. Well, what do you wanna do in the Air Force? So I told him that I had done this homework and I wanted to be an aircraft structural mechanic. And he said, you know, we have airplanes in the Navy. I said, oh, really? He said, yeah, aircraft carriers. And I said, oh, wow, that's pretty neat. He said, why don't you come down to my office and have a Coke while you're waiting for the Air Force recruiter to show up? And so I went down there and the rest is history. I learned when I was running the MEPs in New York, I learned that's called poaching. But so my dad thought I had gone up to the AP station to join the Air Force. And I was only 17 at the time. So when I got home, I said, hey, I talked to the recruiter today and I've got to join and everything's good and I've got to have a physical and all these things and because I'm 17, the Chief needs to come down and talk to you. Well, my dad worked for the Air Force at the time. So when I said the Chief needs to come down and talk to you, he expected an Air Force E9 to show up. So you can imagine his surprise when a Navy Chief showed up and the rest of his history. My dad was a corpsman during a Korean War in the Navy. So the Navy runs pretty deep. The next Chief that I was associated with was when I was a young enlisted man on the USS Talbot and that was a Chief Sonar Technician by the name of Gene Hallabaugh. And my next association with Gene Hallabaugh was when I was delivering my remarks during the commissioning ceremony, Master Chief Hallabaugh retired at the time, was sitting in about the third row and every time he looked at me, he just shook his head and laughed. He couldn't believe that Seaman Garrell had was gonna be the CEO of the USS Chief. The first Chief I was associated with on the USS Chief was a guy by the name of Ken Moeller and Ken had been on the commissioning crew of the USS Sentry. So he asked to be on another, a second commissioning crew and specifically worked with his Detailer to become the commissioning Chief Sonar Technician onboard Chief and boy, when I first got up to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, which was where the ship was built, there was myself, another Chief, my Chief Engineer and about a handful of sailors. We really had a very small crew and then that was different because up to that point I had always joined crews that existed. I had always been the new guy. Well, we were putting this crew together and I was really blessed that I had Ken Moeller and I wish I could remember Chief Whitmire's first name but anyway, the Chief Engineman and then in dribs and drabs as the rest of the crew and the rest of the officers started to filter in and fill up the crew and man the ship. So we got things going. I've got another Chief who has adopted me and has adopted my family by the name of Keith Stika, Gunnersmate and just to show you that the mentoring the mentoring role of a Chief never ends. My daughter is in the Navy now. She's a Lieutenant out in San Diego and Chief Stika still mentors her. Hi-tech via Facebook, but he's always contacted her and asking her how things are going. When she posts something about what she's done he always answers back and says, hey, it's just, it's really neat and gratifying, I think, to see that my Chief from all those years ago is still mentoring my daughter. I have another Chief in my life. My wife, Vicky, her dad's a retired Master Chief. He retired as the Command Master Chief up at Great Lakes and the day he retired behind him that he graduated or retired on the big parade field on the signal hoist were some signal flags and he embarrassed me. He said, well, you should know what that means. And I said, I mumbled something in here and I'm sure. But he had hoisted a signal for my wife who was in the Navy at the time and myself and the signal hoist was my wake, your course. So little did I know that day because we were lieutenants. Little did I, I had no idea that I would ever, you know, command a ship with such a rich background and a rich tradition as the USS Chief. But I said earlier how things just kept looping back. You saw on the film also that Master Chief Hagan was a mick pond at the time. Well, Master Chief Hagan and my father-in-law were shipmates. So at every turn through my entire association with the USS Chief, there was another really nice, really fine association with Chief petty officers. It was just, it was just, it was really, really something. Let's see. Okay, Sturgeon Bay, boy, Sturgeon Bay is Heartland America. If you haven't been up in that area of Wisconsin, Sturgeon Bay, they're just, just good people. And I gotta tell you that the craftsmanship on the USS Chief, I have a book down here and it has some photos in it, some eight by 10 color glosses of the ship through the building process. I gotta tell you, the quality of the craftsmanship on that ship was unbelievable. I mean, I'll just give you an example. One day I was sitting on the Mestex and I happened, I looked up and the ceiling tiles, they had the stainless steel frames for the ceiling tiles. They had slotted head screws and every single screw was lined up perfectly for an act. Someone, whoever the craftsman was that put those ceiling tiles up had taken the time to line up every single one of those and that was what you saw, what you would see today if you went on board the Chief at every turn was the quality and the craftsmanship and it was just a wonderful, wonderful thing now. Also in the video, you notice that Tom Schauder, who was the director of shipbuilding up there, mentioned that the USS Chief was the last MCM and it really did symbolize or signified the end of a way of life up there. Peterson Shipbuilders, the company is not even there anymore. The shipyard is gone. It's a really nice little town park now but if you look in the book and you see the shipyard and at one point MCM 9 through MCM 14 are all there and that was Peterson Shipbuilders started building submarine chasers during the Second World War and had a long tradition of building naval vessels but Chief was the last. So when we sailed away from Surgeon Bay it was kind of bittersweet, kind of the end of an era. A funny story about the day we sailed away. There was a civilian boatyard there and they had built over the same period of time that they were building Chief at Peterson Builders, this other civilian boatyard was building this private yacht for some billionaire and the name of the yacht was the Dancing Bear and it was about 20 feet longer than Chief but every time there was a social event and every time there was a reception or something the guy who was having that ship built he had a helicopter pad on the back of his ship. I didn't have one of those but every time that we were together in a social setting he would always tell me how jealous he was of me because I was gonna be the CEO of a US Navy ship and yeah, he had a yacht and it was a nice yacht and everything. Well, the very first time we ever got Chief underway we came about literally about five feet from T-Bone into Dancing Bear because a new precom crew and we really focused on EOS and all the things down in the engine room but on the day we got underway it turns out that control of the starboard shaft hadn't been passed up to the bridge so when we went to back down the starboard shaft the ship didn't back down and we kept all back on an MCM for those of you that haven't been on you all back two, all back three, all the way up to all back 10 and so we were all back 10 and the ship was still heading toward the Dancing Bear when suddenly, or fortunately I guess, and suddenly someone down in engineering discovered it that the control of the starboard shaft hadn't been passed to the bridge and they passed it up and then it answered the bells and we, to those standing on the shore they said it looked like a perfect maneuver the owner of the shipyard, Ellsworth Peterson told me he said you got a little close to Dancing Bear but other than that it was pretty good underway I said yeah, we really did get real close to the Dancing Bear too close, way too close so our first, our first sea detail was the St. Lawrence Seaway that was exciting you know we had gone through all the training and all the fast cruises and everything we could and we had had one day underway where we got underway out on Lake Michigan and come back in but the next time we got underway it was in October 1994 and we headed for the St. Lawrence Seaway but has anyone in here been on a ship through the St. Lawrence Seaway? It's exciting they have these thousand foot lake freighters they're huge and the locks as you lock up and down in and out of the St. Lawrence Seaway these locks are big enough to hold one of those thousand foot lake freighters and they have these things they call approach walls and they're these ugly concrete walls with timbers on them and big iron stakes where ships have torn the timbers off and everything well, you know here I am with a brand new ship and it's a wooden hull but it's got a fiberglass sheathing on the outside so it's brand new and it's a little delicate, relatively delicate so the way these big lake freighters get into the locks is they just power their bow into these approach walls and the approach wall pushes the bow over and they go into the lock and they close the door they close the lock gates behind them and they either dump the water out and they go down or they pump water in and they go up well we were always it's called going down on someone else's water we were always coming out of the Great Lakes you're always going down so we were always going down on someone else's water well the first lock that we approached we got a little bit too close and I didn't think the physics through if you think about it this thousand foot ship fills this lock the volume of the lock is filled by this ship but when they open and they raise it up in the water or when they open the door and the ship comes out something has to fill that lock up well it happened to be the water I was sitting in so I was all back full but the water I was sitting in was rushing into the lock and so the chief is only 224 feet long so you can imagine that we scooted in there we managed to get stopped without hitting anything made a mental note don't get so close next time and then they closed the door behind you and it's like the tidy bowl man I mean they pull the plug and the ship just drops and some of the drops are 69 or 70 feet so you pull into the lock and they pull the plug the ship drops down and then you continue on because there's another big ship waiting to come in behind you one of the neat things about that trip was and this was totally unplanned it was absolutely fortuitous but we crossed Lake Erie on the Navy's birthday that year and we went right by a place called Put in Bay and Put in Bay is where Oliver Hazard Perry and his squadron went out into Lake Erie to take on the British during the War of 1812 that's the famous battle where he flew the battle flag and said don't give up the ship and of course that was because James Lawrence was killed on Chesapeake and as he was dying he was the captain of the Chesapeake as he was dying he said don't give up the ship Oliver Hazard Perry so it was neat that we were able to celebrate that day we were crossing Lake Erie celebrating the Navy's birthday right at the point where Oliver Hazard Perry I always look for things like that to work on the tradition to try and instill the tradition in the crew just like this thing here today this event today is it's about tradition it's about pride let's see I wanted to read something I have Admiral Borda's remarks here from that day and I'm not gonna read a lot of it but Admiral Borda said what a great day for Navy people and for our Navy for the second time in our history we will have a warship named for a very special group of Navy professionals the Chief Petty Officer's the finest strongest Navy in the world Chief, what a great name for a great Navy warship Chief, the very name says it all the best number one a winner in every way what a great name he went on to say Chief, what a great name for a ship the title Chief raises so many memories for all sailors every one of us who has served for any length of time can tell you about his or her Chief I talked about that earlier I think I have one more he said we know every sailor knows that the word leadership and the title Chief Petty Officer go together you cannot say one without thinking of the other Senior Chief asked me to talk about the crest the ship's crest um I actually I actually designed the Chief's crest sitting right over here in the sous chalet I was in Newport for the for PCO and this was in nineteen ninety three now if you're if you remember nineteen ninety if you remember back that was a time when there were there were a lot of sensitivities being expressed about about Native American heritage and Native American pride and and some groups were saying that the tom things like the tomahawk chop and you know sports teams named after Indian tribes or Indians and things were maybe not the right thing to do so the Navy was very concerned well not the Navy but there were some in the Navy who were very concerned about what we were doing as far as what the ship's crest was going to be they didn't know that the they didn't know that the that the ship was named after the Chief Petty Officer Corps they thought maybe we would take it in a direction where we might offend some Native American group so I got a call from a a captain in the in the Pentagon and wanted to know what direction we were going and I was able to say well no it's named after the Chief Petty Officer Corps so so as you go through a commissioning process there are certain certain things that you have to hit and one of the things is you have to you have to develop the ship's crest so I started with the I started with the with the the standard rope around the outside and the blue on the inside USS chief MCM-14 but then the center was really was really left up to me so I I came up with this idea that we would take the the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy insignia and we'd have the we'd have the filed anchor like you see there I took the we have if you look on the ship's crest there are there were eighty four crew members in the commissioning crew so there are eighty four links on that chain on the ship's crest I looked at the the stars on the upper on up above it kind of worked out nicely because the the mick pond has three stars as one on each on each of the sides the anchor one at the top that also coincidentally is the is the arrangement of the three green lights the three green navigation lights at night that indicate a vessel engaged in mine clearance operation so we had that so we we got it all together the in the center of the crest is a mine and I had I had two swords going through it and I I I had this all done and I sent it up to the to the commissioning the commissioning crew that was in Sturgeon Bay at that time which was about it was it was chief molar chief Whitmore and I'm sorry chief Whitmire and the and my chief engineer and Ken Moller immediately sent it back and said hey how come the officers get two swords going through the mine why don't we put a cutlass through it is the USS chief why don't we have a cutlass so if you look at the at the design there's an officer's sword going through and and and a chief's cutlass going through so then after you get the after you get the design done the office of army heraldry is the is the they're the clearing house every regardless of what service you're in they have to authorize they have to approve your your crest for heraldry I submitted it to them and they rejected it and the reason they rejected it was because you're not allowed to have any military rank insignia on an official unit crest so because we had essentially the you know chief pedi officer uh... insignia they said no you can't do that so i really want to do that well i had another chief in my life at that time if you remember i had dwayne bushey as she bush so i called as she bush and i said master chief they're not letting us have the because we had sent it to him and he liked it he sent it back said this is great so master chief they're not letting us have the the ship's crest that we want he said i'll make a couple of phone calls and i'm not not a word of a lie later that day he called me back he said said sir we're going to tell army heraldry to pound sand we're gonna have that as the admiral border said that's the ship's crest and so that is the ship's crest so again another example where i had my chief looking out for me and you know he had my back um... let's see i think that's about it but one more thing i want i want i want to read one more thing from from mass chief or from uh... admiral borders as i said i was i was just overwhelmed overwhelmed with pride at being the ceo of the uss chief trust me i as a matter of fact chief is chief is currently in san diego and um... i was there two years ago and i had to be on base early in the morning so i arrived about seven thirty and i had some time to kill so i so i thought well i'll just drive down the period take a look at the chief so i did and i happen to be there first call the colors uh... so i was standing on i i decided i'm gonna watch colors on my old ship i was standing on the pier and i'm not a i'm not in ashamed to say that well i stood there and the national anthem was playing and i was looking at my old ship i was born like a baby i was just overwhelmed with the pride that i still felt you know almost twenty years later at having been been blessed to be the ceo of the uss chief it was just it was overwhelming and i keep telling my daughter said you gotta go to the chief chesa go to the chief and and uh... you know just tell him hey you're you're the pre-con ceo's daughter and you want to get on board and take a look at the ship and she hasn't done it yet but my wife will tell you that my daughter can procrastinate but uh... but i wanted to end with this and they showed a little snippet of that my board is saying this but but when i again when i think back to the to the absolute you know the absolute blessing that i had in my life of being the ceo the first ceo of a ship named chief at my board turned to me in in his remarks he said captain gerald you have a special charge your ship carries the special title a very special title as her name you bear a special burden and you carry a special trust as a skipper of a proud ship with a proud name chiefs are leaders chiefs really are the backbone the heart and soul of the navy if you or if a captain who follows you must take this ship into the fight you must prepare her to do her duty just as so many great chiefs have done their duty in so many places in so many ways in so many fights before you chief is more than a name it's a symbol a tradition of all that is good and honorable in the greatest navy the world has ever known i envy you every sailor here envies you for you as commanding officer of us as chief will have the opportunity to carry on in the finest traditions one of the proudest and most important groups of men and women in our navy i know that you your ship and your crew will not let us down you will you must be the best you carry a special trust for your ship bears the name chief and she must embody all the great and inspiring things their name symbolizes thanks to your chief and uh... and uh... three sixty five folks are invited me here today this has been really a a great opportunity to walk down memory lane and i'm just thrilled to death that i you know when i look back on my navy career that one of the things that i was able to do was i was able to command the u s s chief again thank you sir i'm gonna bring the first classes back up you guys please come on up so we can acknowledge them but as we do this and we think about our three sixty five program uh... when i think about it i go back to a couple weeks maybe a month ago i think when we started talking about this and one one more came into my office and it looked like a kid at a candy store and he was just so excited about what was going on in the fact that he had met professor gerald and and learned about the pre commissioning ceo working here at the war college uh... and so as i think about c p o three sixty five and what it means you know i i think it means hey we learned something every day and hopefully after this that we've all learned something but it's also networking uh... and i'll say that having four commands represented here in the way that you guys came together that's what it's about being in the chief's mess so you're on the right track our c p o three sixty five program is on the right track and since we're on the subject of networking i want to present you guys something i went through c m c school with command master chief longsdorf who is the c m c on the u s s chief and as we talked about pardon my phone went around but as we talked about the crest i wish sir you had had one of these so you could have seen it uh... but i have chief's mess coins from the u s s chief uh... to present to you guys so great job are you guys can exit now okay and last but not least it is our birthday uh... for those that are in the khakis understand some you guys will be soon but i'd be remissed if i didn't take this opportunity uh... to read something if you hadn't looked at it today i'm going to save you and we're going to read it now so chief petty officers past and present attention to the chief petty officers creed during the course of this day you have been caused a humbly accept challenge and face adversity this you have accomplished with where rare good grace pointless is some of these challenges may have seemed they are valid time-honored reasons behind each pointed bar it was necessary to meet these hurdles with blind faith in the fellowship of chief petty officers the goal was to instill in you that trust is inherent with the dawning of the uniform of chief it was our intent to impress upon you that challenges good a great necessary reality which cannot mar you which in fact strengthens you in your future as a chief petty officer you'll be forced to endure adversity far beyond that imposed upon you today you must face east challenge and adversity with the same dignity and good grace you demonstrated today by experience by performance and by testing you have been this day advanced to chief petty officer in the united states navy only in the united states navy the rank of these seven carries unique responsibilities no other armed forces in the world grants responsibilities nor the privileges you are now bound to observe and expected to fulfill your entire way of life is now changed more will be expected of you more will be demanded of you not because you are any seven but because you're now chief petty officer you have not been merely promoted one pay grade you have joined an exclusive fellowship and as in all fellowships you have a special responsibility to your comrades even as they have a special responsibility to you this is why we in the united states navy may maintain with pride our feelings of accomplishment once we have attained the position of chief petty officer your new responsibilities and privileges do not appear in print they have no official standing they cannot be referred to by name number nor file they exist because for over one hundred and twenty one years chiefs before you have freely accepted responsibility beyond the call of printed assignment their actions in their performance demanded the respect of their seniors as well as their juniors it is now required that you be the fountain of wisdom the ambassador of goodwill the authority and personal relations as well as in technical applications as the chief is a household phrase in and out of the navy you are now that chief the exalted position you have now achieved and the word exalted is used advisedly exist because of the attitude and performance of the chiefs before you it shall exist only as long as you and your fellow chiefs maintain these standards it was our intention that you never forget this day it was our intention to test you to try you and to accept you your performance has assured us that you will wear the hat with the same pride as your comrades in arms before you we take a deep and sincere pleasure in clasping your hand and accepting you as a chief head officer in the united states navy that's it social at the cpo club at sixteen hundred thank you