Photo By Douglas Stutz | Standing Initiated Tall…The Chiefs Mess at Navy Medicine Readiness Training Command...... read more read more
The Chiefs Mess at Navy Medicine Readiness Training Command Bremerton was deemed incomplete.
Permission was requested – and approved - from Capt. Karla Lepore, NMRTC Bremerton commanding officer to make the mess whole.
Joining the ranks of U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officers September 16, 2025, were newly pinned Chief Hospital Corpsmen Jessie Christian Alday, Lee Halls, Robert Lee O’Bryant, Miles Steele and Chief Logistics Specialist Steven Alexander Gardiner.
Individually, as well as collectively, the five will henceforth be known as ‘chief.’
“Today, our chief selects will continue a long and proud tradition of leadership in our Navy. You are not just present for the advancement of first class petty officers to the next higher paygrade, but also to share in the most significant transition that they will ever make in their naval career,” said Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman John Buxton, master of ceremonies, addressing command leadership, staff members, patients, family, friends and the NMRTC Bremerton Chiefs Mess, past, present and future.
Buxton explained that the goal of the chief’s initiation training included inspiring, instilling trust and motivating the chief selects while simultaneously teaching leadership, establishing esprit de corps, promoting unity, building teamwork and more.
“They were challenged with physical training, learned a new depth of naval heritage, engaged in meaningful discussions on Navy core values and various leadership and teamwork training efforts,” Buxton said. “As the initiation is completed, we can ensure a deeper understanding of our traditions, our heritage, and our values, not only in the chiefs we are about to pin today, but in the entire chief’s mess.
As keynote speaker, Capt. Lepore acknowledged during her opening remarks the special importance of being requested to speak at the ceremony.
“Being asked to speak at a Navy Chief’s pinning is no small thing. Because this moment, this tradition, is sacred to our Navy,” stated Lepore. “When asked to give a speech, I knew immediately what I didn’t want to say.”
“I didn’t want to give the usual speech that talks about hard work, integrity, leadership. Not because those aren’t important. They are,” continued Lepore, speaking directly to Alday, Halls, O’Bryant, Steele, and Gardiner. “But you’ve just lived all that, through one of the most transformative seasons of your professional lives. You know what it took to earn those anchors.”
Lepore’s background was not steeped in the Navy. She was commissioned onto active duty through the naval officer pipeline. “Followed the path, did the jobs, hit the milestones. Didn’t really understand the Navy until I met a chief, way later [in my career] than most. I was a brand-new commander and had just taken a director role. I was leading people, making decisions, wearing the rank. But I was flying blind in a lot of ways. That was the first time I was paired with a senior enlisted leader. A Navy chief. For the first time in my career, someone sat me down and said, “ma’am, here’s how the Navy actually works.” They didn’t judge me. They didn’t belittle me. They guided me. They corrected me. Not publicly, not harshly, but with care. With patience and honesty. With a kind of quiet strength that I have come to deeply respect. That chief taught me things no schoolhouse ever did. They taught me about people, about priorities, about what leadership looks like on the deck plates, not just on paper.”
Lepore attests that Navy chiefs are certainly called the backbone of the Navy for a reason. “To those being pinned today, know this; there is some junior officer out there who is going to look to you the way I looked at my first chief. They won’t ask for help. They might not even know they need it. But you’ll see it. You’ll feel it. You’ll change their life just by doing what chiefs have always done; quietly make the Navy work.”
NMRTC Bremerton Command Master Chief William Eickhoff, as most senior enlisted, shared specific insight to each of the five new chief petty officers.
“It’s not the strongest or smartest that survives but the one which is most adaptable to change. You must ensure the Chiefs Mess not only survives but thrives. That is one of your biggest charges,” said Eickhoff. “Pebbles. It’s not the mountain in the journey’s path that slows or halts progress. It’s the pebble in your shoe. It’s very easy to pick up pebbles and you know how to do it. But you got to have the attention to detail to do that, to find those pebbles and remove them. It’s not that hard and you will have such a huge impact on everyone around you when you do it. Finally, anchors and caps are not what makes a chief. It’s your actions. You’ve proven it up to now and you have to [continue] proving it every day. Congratulations.”
The pinning ceremony was a culmination of the past six weeks of training, assignments and hard work. In no other armed force is a rank equivalent to that of the chief in the United States Navy.
“While it is true that all armed forces have two classes of rank with enlisted and commissioned, the United States Navy has the distinction of having an additional class of service with the [Navy] bureau appointed chief petty officer. This is what makes the title of ‘chief’ even more distinctive. Although the paygrades E-7 through E-9 are equivalent to those of other services, the Navy is unique in that it confers much more authority and responsibility while demanding more performance and results than any of the other services,” Buxton said.
As any of the approximately 30 active-duty chief petty officers assigned to NHB and numerous retired chiefs at the traditional ceremony will readily attest, the five - Alday, Halls, O’Bryant, Steele and Gardiner - went through a name change like no other on this date
They are a culmination of 132 years - and counting - of hallowed Navy chief petty officer tradition.
| Date Taken: | 09.16.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.16.2025 16:57 |
| Story ID: | 548332 |
| Location: | BREMERTON , WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 148 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Chiefs Mess made complete at NMRTC Bremerton, by Douglas Stutz, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
