A day in the life of….. (career insight for the curious)
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A day in the life of….
Since I was asked what a typical day is like as a Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer, I thought it would be a cool idea for a thread for everyone to give a brief synopsis of a day in the life whatever their jobs are. I’ll go first.
Chiefs, Senior Chiefs, and Master Chiefs are all the subject matter experts in their respective fields. My field happens to be cooking with a specialty in household/estate management, but that’s only the beginning.
A Chief is (and I use the word Chief because we’re all “Chiefs” regardless of whether or not we’re individually called Chief, Senior Chief, or Master Chief. We’re all collectively Chiefs. A Chief is a Chief to all Sailors. A Chief is a fountain of wisdom, and if the Chief doesn’t have the answer, the Chief knows where to find it. In a typical day, I’m asked for financial advice, home buying advice, relationship advice, car buying advice, as well as giving grief counseling, etc., which is all on top of the general professional guidance that I provide. I get stopped almost daily with a question from a junior Sailor. “Hey Senior, where do I find X on the ship?” “Hey Senior, can you help me with my ribbons?” “Hey Senior, how do I get into the Flag community (the community I’m in where I work for Flag Officers, or as most people know them, Admirals and Generals)?”In addition to training subordinates, it’s also the job of the Chief to train junior officers. The effect we have as Chiefs on these junior officers now, can be with them for the rest of their careers. If they have a bad impression of Chiefs in their professional formative years, how will they treat their Chiefs and junior enlisted Sailors throughout their careers? I once worked for an admiral that wanted to instill in me that it’s okay to say “no” to an admiral, and taught me how to do it, and more importantly, gave me the confidence to do so. The officers that are surrounded by “yes men” end up walking all over everyone, and continue on in their careers unchecked, and that can be a dangerous, and miserable thing to work around.
It’s also the job of the Chief to bridge the gap between the enlisted and officer communities. We’re problem solvers, and if there’s a problem the Chief’s Mess (a term used to describe all of the Chiefs as a whole) can’t solve, we’re the ones to bring it to the officers. We pass information up the chain of command, just as we’re expected to pass down information from the upper chain of command down to the junior Sailors.
Chiefs enforce the standards. Uniform regulations, grooming standards, and the everyday rules that we’re expected to follow on a daily basis to live together on a ship, or work together ashore, are all enforced by the Chief’s Mess.Chiefs aren’t managers. Chiefs are leaders. We preach leadership all the time, and we live it every day. It’s a skill that needs to be practiced and honed every single day. We try daily to inspire those around us to better themselves, and to lead by example. Chiefs should be (99% of us are) looking sharp at all times, be physically fit (within Navy standards), and groomed correctly (no 5 o’clock shadows or shabby haircuts). We check ourselves in the mirror before leaving our sleeping quarters (called “berthing”) and make sure that we look the part.
As part of the Senior Leadership, we are afforded a few perks. Our berthings are usually a little smaller (as opposed to crew berthing which can have hundreds of people sharing the same space). I share a berthing with 5 other guys from my Mess, and there are 9 racks (beds or bunks), so it’s pretty roomy in there, all things considered. Our racks are also slightly larger (maybe an inch or so in either direction) which is nice. It’s not much, but every little bit of extra that we get adds up to a lot of morale. When it’s time to leave the ship when we get to a foreign port, it’s done by pay-grade, and there’s a separate brow (the stairs and walkway to get on and off the ship) for Chief and above. So, there’s way less traffic getting on and off the ship, which is especially nice when it’s time to get off of this thing in a foreign port.
Also, use of the internet is restricted during certain times for most of the crew to preserve bandwidth for actual mission essential activities. Chiefs are usually on the list of people that get internet most of the time. There are about 250 Chiefs on this ship of 5,000. We also have a separate place to eat called the “Chief’s Mess” which is only open to Chiefs and their guests. Any non-Chiefs must knock before entering, then walk in and state their business.
We’re a proud bunch, and have been officially recognized as a rank in the US Navy for almost 125 years. We are a very tight-knit brother/sisterhood and greet each other by first names or Brother/Sister, or Bro/Sis as we pass each other in the passageways of the ship.
Chiefs also do lots of administrative work. Recommending awards for our Sailors, writing periodic performance evaluations, and written counseling paperwork.
To bring it all back around, my job is to feed the admiral and his staff. I try to stay out of the galley (or kitchen for you landlubbers) and let my team do the work, but they come to me a dozen times per day with questions on how to handle certain tasks, the best way to approach a new ingredient or technique, and general cooking, plating, and fine dining plating. We use advanced culinary techniques every day, cook everything from scratch, grind our own meat, make our own sausage, etc., etc., etc. Every plate is made individually and served to the patrons who are sitting down, and we aim for a 3 course meal for dinner every night. Lunch is a bit more casual with a plated meal, and usually a platter of cookies. Tonight we’re serving (and this isn’t totally typical, but for some reason some special ingredients were available) Surf & Turf. Grilled sirloin strip with broiled lobster, béarnaise sauce, steamed broccoli, mashed red potatoes, and cheddar biscuits.
So, there you have it. If you have any questions, I’m all ears. Thanks for reading!
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Really interesting @seawolf.
How long has it taken you to get to 'Chief' and how far can you go up the ladder, so to speak?
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It took me 11 years to be selected for Chief, and at that point, I had to undergo an intensive 6 week initiation, so to speak. I was selected for Senior Chief last year at around my 14 year mark. At the Master Chief level, there fewer and fewer positions, but you can become a Command Master Chief (CMC) who is the senior most enlisted person at the command, and their job is to be the ultimate conduit between the officers and enlisted, and is the voice of the enlisted, if you will. The CMC is also the leader of the Chief's Mess. Then of course, there's different levels of CMCs. You can become the CMC of bigger and bigger commands, and ultimately become the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, or MCPON (pronounced meck-pawn). We've had 14 MCPONs since our first one in 1968.
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yeah go on, you might as well recite the NCO creed "No one is more professional than i. I am a noncommissioned officer." or do you navy guys don't do that?
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^^^That is from the Army's Creed of the Non-Commisioned Officer
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@seawolf that was a great read. Thanks so much for taking the time. Institutionalised, regimented life has always fascinated me.
I'm the least institutionalized one here then. I don't fit into a lot of the norms, and I can't wait to hang it up at my 20 year mark.
It was fun to type it all up though, and give you all a little insight.
yeah go on, you might as well recite the NCO creed "No one is more professional than i. I am a noncommissioned officer." or do you navy guys don't do that?
We don't have an NCO creed in the Navy. We do have a CPO creed though, but it's a lot different.
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That was an awesome read. Thanks Senior Chief.
Edited @seawolf
Apologies for calling you Master Chief.
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Thanks for the interesting glimpse behind the scenes, Seawolf! The utmost respect for what you and your Brothers and Sisters do, day in day out! The go between for the enlisted and the officers/the voice of the enlisted–seems like one of the more vital duties in the sevice.
Semper Fortis
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