JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii - Naval Information Operations Command hosted the inaugural Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Pride Day Hawaii at the Battleship Missouri Memorial, Ford Island, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Wednesday, Sept. 4.
Similar events are held annually in San Diego, Great Lakes and
Jacksonville, which got Hawaii CPOs to brainstorming, so the Hawaii CPO Pride Day was born. The event gives chiefs yet another chance to instill and promote CPO pride, mess cohesion and encourages cross-island CPO communication through competition into the newest generation of Chiefs.
"We're hoping that this is the first of many," said Chief Petty
Officer Cryptological Technician (Collection) Rasheem Wynn, event
coordinator. "When we designed this, we want this to be a legacy."
According to Wynn, the idea of holding the inaugural CPO Pride
Day at the Battleship Missouri Memorial was part of the legacy they're looking to carry on.
"[This is] one of the most historic parts that we have here in
Hawaii," he continued. "It helps our selectees understand what their place is, as new Chief Petty Officers and understand we can't forget those that have come before us. That's what we're here for."
Tradition and carrying on that tradition is major component of
the transition from first class to chief petty officer.
"It's all about pride and heritage, he said. "For them as new
chiefs. We're the barriers of the legacy, [so] we try to instill that
knowledge and that legacy in our new chiefs. It's up to us a chief's mess to keep that tradition going. It's our duty and responsibility to carry forward that heritage. We have to. If we're not, it lives and it dies with us."
The importance of tradition, camaraderie and sense of was not
lost on the selectees who participated in the event.
"It is such an honor, we worked very hard, tirelessly to put
this together, to come together and show our pride and really represent Navy Region," said Chief (select) Hospital Corpsman Ashley Aldeguer from U.S. Military Entrance Processing Station Hawaii. "It's instilled a sense of pride in my obligation to my country, and the honor and privilege that we have to be chosen to represent as chief petty officers."