Photo By Amanda Dick | (Left to right) U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer James Davidson and Senior Chief Petty...... read more read more
CAMP PHOENIX, Afghanistan - What happens when you are heading out for deployment shortly before your child leaves for boot camp, and you can’t send them off or attend graduation?
For one father, U.S. Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer John Swonger, support came in the form of several chief petty officers from his home unit - only he didn’t know it until recently.
“A couple weeks ago, I received a box from what appeared to be the chief’s mess back at STRATCOM WING ONE on Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., and I thought it was goodies or snacks from my unit,” said Swonger, who is deployed as the Afghan Detention and Corrections Assessment Team corrections non-commissioned officer for the Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 in Kabul, Afghanistan.
“When I opened the box and saw a piece of foam on the top, I thought it was kind of odd for them to pack it that way. When I lifted it up, underneath was a frame with three pictures of my son, who is currently at [Navy] boot camp in Great Lakes, Ill.”
Swonger’s son, Seaman Recruit Jose Rodriguez, is part of Ship 11, Division R 2011, Company 349. He enlisted in the Navy and is expected to complete basic training mid-October.
Rodriguez and his fellow shipmates signed the box also included a signed 100-year anniversary Naval aviation t-shirt signed by Rodriguez and his shipmates going through boot camp with him, a coin from the Great Lakes Chief Petty Officers Association, and two handwritten letters from a senior chief and chief petty officer from Swonger’s home unit, explaining U.S. Strategic Command Wing 1 was sponsoring his son’s boot camp company.
“The reason we sponsored them is pretty simple in my mind … it was the right thing to do for our brother while he’s in harm’s way and can’t be here for his family,” said U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Rebecca Dixon, SCW-1 Operations/Intelligence Department Leading Chief Petty Officer. “It allowed for us to keep a close eye on his son while Senior Swonger is away and touch all the sailors in his company – and to be able to give piece of mind to [Swonger’s] wife.”
Dixon said what she and her fellow chief petty officers are doing shows to Rodriguez and the other new sailors entering the Navy that it’s true about chiefs – they take care of their sailors and take care of one another and their families.
“This is something Jose will be able to share with his shipmates in boot camp and when he gets out to the fleet. It will give those in his company a sense of pride in the decision they have made to be in the U.S. Navy,” Dixon said.
Though this deployment is harder than previous deployments for Swonger, he took comfort in the support from his “chief family” back home.
“It’s tough being away from family,” he said. “It’s an honor to know that, while I’m out here serving and not able to see my son graduate, my brother and sister chief petty officers back home are doing this for me. And, they plan to fly up to watch my son graduate, with my wife and father-in-law. It’s very humbling.”
For those in STRATCOM WING ONE, they welcomed the chance to support a brother-in-arms.
“John Swonger is my best friend,” said U.S. Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer David Wallace, SCW-1 Operations Department leading chief petty officer. “He and I are exactly alike, with the exception that he is 6 feet tall, and I tower at 5 feet 6 inches. His family means as much to me as mine, and I would do anything for them. He is the ear I chew on when I have issues at work and home. I also know he would do as much for me as I would for him. I really miss my friend.”
Swonger said his son, who will graduate boot camp on Oct. 21, has had a military mindset since he was young.
While growing up, Rodriguez was in the Young Marines where he wore his hair high and tight. He said he wanted one day to grow up to be a Navy SEAL. That impressed Swonger so much that he gave his son a Navy SEAL pin and the rank insignia of a chief petty officer – the anchor – to keep with him.
As he took time to compose himself, Swonger recalled how emotional leaving his family at the airport had been this time around as opposed to others.
When he was getting off the plane at his destination, Swonger was putting gear back into his bag and he was poked by something sharp. It turned out to be the Navy SEAL pin he had given his son. It was the pin his son had always kept in his wallet, but he had somehow managed to put it in his father’s bag the morning Swonger left for deployment.
Swonger later asked his wife if his son had put the pin in his bag.
“Yeah, he wanted you to remember him,” she said.
Though Swonger hasn’t been able to talk to his son yet, he said that Rodriguez’ gesture was enough communication – “We understood each other.”
This has been the type of father-son relationship they have had over the years, with Swonger imparting words of wisdom to his son and sometimes even being a little strict to prepare Rodriguez for the way ahead.
When his mother took him to the military entry processing station, that wisdom from Swonger wasn’t lost on his son as he responded very simply to his mother’s statement about how tough it would be, and how they would try to break him down in boot camp: “They can’t break me down, Dad’s already done that.”
As Rodriguez prepares to graduate boot camp without his father in attendance, Swonger said how grateful he is for those who have been there for his family.
“It’s hard to talk about,” Swonger said, as tears formed in his eyes. “It’s very emotional to know you have people like that in your life. You see really quickly who your friends are. That’s the epitome of what a chief petty officer in the Navy is…they take care of your family when you’re gone.”
That type of care is what Swonger said elicited his comment on Facebook to members of his home unit.
“If your goal was to bring me to tears, mission accomplished,” Swonger wrote on his post. “If your goal was to make me smile, I’ve never smiled harder. This is the reason why chief petty officers are like no one on this planet. Unity, service, navigation. UNITY! Never been prouder. Navy chief, Navy pride.”
And, as Rodriguez goes on to Corry Station Naval Technical Training Center, Fla., to become an information systems technician and then off to his first duty station, Swonger too will be moving on and starting his own new chapter shortly after returning from this deployment to Afghanistan: retirement.
As part of the Swonger’s plan for his retirement ceremony, he wants to have his son perform “The Watch."
“I want my son to be the person to say to me, ‘Senior chief, you stand relieved. We have the watch.’ And, I will literally give the watch over to my son, then walk down the row [of sideboys] and ‘ride off into the sunset.’”
It will be a rite of passage Swonger hopes that will end one generation of Navy pride and begin the path of another.
| Date Taken: | 10.08.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 10.13.2011 02:53 |
| Story ID: | 78421 |
| Location: | CAMP PHOENIX, AF |
| Web Views: | 787 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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