MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. -- For many, chief petty officers are the cornerstones of U.S. Navy today, as they were when the rank of chief was created more than 100 years ago. They represent years of experience and leadership that help to plot the course for the sailors and junior officers who work with them.
Three petty officers first class from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma have been selected to join the ranks of other chiefs and carry on the heritage. First they must go thought the Chief Petty Officer Selectee Transition.
“The transition process helps to show the chief selects how to successfully lead their junior enlisted,” said Senior Chief Petty Officer Patti S. Spencer, Marine Aircraft Group 13 senior enlisted leader at the Branch Medical Center. “It also helps to show the selects how to properly run an office and control their seaman.”
Every Tuesday and Thursday the chief selects travel to El Centro, Calif., and learn the history of the chief rank and the Navy in general.
“The history classes were a lot of fun,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Wayne V. Thompson, operations chief for Food Services, and native of Miami who has been selected for chief. “We learned a lot of interesting facts about the history of the Navy. It’s good to know where we came from and how individual sections (of the Navy) got started.”
The chief selects were up every day at 5 a.m. to start their physical training, said Spencer.
“The PT was kind of rough,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Timothy J. Kelker, chief boatswains mate, and native of El Paso, Texas. “We did a lot of running. We run Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The other days we go to the gym.”
“I like to make them run,” said Spencer. “It is probably one of the best exercises you can do to help maintain overall fitness.”
Despite all the hardships that come along with rising up to the status of chief, all the selects seem more than willing to attempt to accomplish the task.
“The more rank I get, the more I can do for the people who work for me,” said Kelker. “The chief initiation process is teaching me how to control my emotions, it’s letting me know how much I can handle physically, and it’s allowing us (chief selects) to develop into model sailors.”
“I plan to take everything I learned here and use it properly,” said Thompson. “I want to show my junior enlisted what I learned and use it to lead by example.”
The chief selects performed a practice physical fitness test Friday. Some of the chief selects were actually looking forward to the test as a good challenge, according to Thompson.
“Becoming a chief is a possible dream as long as you are determined and get your priorities in line,” said Spencer. “Do whatever it takes and never give up.”
After all the training the chief selects go through, their pinning, which is the ceremony where a petty officer first class actually becomes a chief, will be a memorable moment, said Spencer
The chief selects are slated to be pinned Sept. 16, and if all goes well, there will be three new chiefs on station to help continue the heritage and tradition behind the rank for another 100 years.