"Me first!" says the Petty Officer Second Class. "I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, a beautiful woman at my side and not a care in the world." Poof! He's gone.
"Me next!" says the First Class. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of pina coladas and a beautiful woman." Poof! He's gone.
"You're next," the Genie says to the Chief. The Chief says, "I want those two back on the ship right after lunch."
That's right...Matt is a Navy Chief now and he is just as "down to business" as the Navy Chief in the joke above!
Matt and I planned the perfect holiday to the U.S. to visit both of our families, Las Vegas, Washington, Wyoming, North Dakota, Disneyland and so much more in between. Much to our surprise, our plans had a HUGE change right in the middle of them! Matt was selected to become a Chief in the Navy. Although we were filled with joy, we were forced to make some changes to our travel plans. Within those changes, Matt was not able to visit his family in Wyoming or mine in North Dakota, however, he spent his days {and nights} learning the ins and outs of being a Chief in the Navy. He worked very hard and I was so blessed and fortunate to attend his Chief's Pinning Ceremony at the end of his initiation period.
This is Matt before I dropped him off for his 30 some odd hour long initiation. It was VERY early in the morning and I didn't get to see him until the following day around noon.
Each Chief had a special box made with a charge book in it. The charge book is a book in which they wrote essays and received advice from other Navy Chiefs. On top of a stack of awards is Matt's new cover {hat}. These were all displayed in the front of the room on the stage.
Matt in line after being pinned (notice the shiny pins on his collar) and receiving his hat!
All of the newly pinned Chiefs did a little performance for us!
They put on quite the show singing "Anchor's Aweigh" with their barely there voices! The story goes, there was a lot of shouting the previous day and night! (Unfortunately, Matt didn't get the memo: Short guys stand in FRONT! haha!)
They did a traditional line in which everyone present, starting with all Naval Chiefs, shake the hand of all of the Brand New Chiefs.
Here is the front of the stage!
Matt and I after the ceremony. There is a special flower in my hair given to me by a little girl who was sitting next to me. She took it off her mom's boquet and handed it to me. She was so cute and it was just the special touch I needed as I was missing my girls!
Matt with the group of men who were just pinned!
The crew :)
Matt looking at his gifts.Fun Facts about Matt making Chief:
His group raised thousands more dollars than expected during their fund raising efforts.
He learned all the verses to The Star Spangled Banner; I didn't know there was more than one!
He now wears a khaki uniform (and wears it well *wink wink*)
He works the same job and we will not be moving back the the U.S. sooner than we are due to.
His new cover was too big so he had to send it back to get a new one. He has mentioned several times that he can't wait for his new cover to get here! ha! I think he likes it!
Matt has worked so hard for this and we are really excited that he can now be called a "Navy Chief"!
Enjoy today!
Congrats Matt!
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