Finally a slow minute

Week 1 of 6 of CPO 365 phase II is officially done. If it's any indication of how the other 5 weeks are going to go, these boys might just drop of exhaustion well before pinning day. I haven't really been able to get on here because it's been so hectic around here lately. 

In the last two days alone there have been 7 CPO Selectee's in and out of my house working on various things.  Three were here until 10:30 last night and all 7 were here at 9 o'clock this morning. Their work is very secretive and they have a lot of projects to complete in a very small window, but I can say they seem to have become like a little family, even in the first week. They work very well together and after talking to my husband's sponsor and his wife, that is something that doesn't happen very often.  One thing you have to understand is that our base is small.  Think...Mayberry but with fewer people. Only 9 Sailors were selected for Chief here this year, so with such a small group going through, they need to have a good relationship. 

Yesterday was a meet-and-greet picnic at the Chief's Mess.  It was a bit....overwhelming to say the least.  I was kind of thinking it would be a small affair, the Selectee's/Sponsors and their families.  Instead it seemed that every Chief on the base came out to celebrate and be little social butterflies.  At the end of the picnic the new wives (all 4 of us, watch out now!) all sat down for a CPO Spouses Symposium which was very informative. The older wives were extremely helpful and offered their words of encouragement and advice.  The Command Master Chief's (or CMC for short) wife was just awesome to all of us, they went above and beyond to make us feel welcomed within the Mess. Even CMC himself was very warm and welcoming. I'll admit that when I first met my husband, I was terrified of the Chief's.  Terrified.  Chief's and Officer's. They just seemed like big balls of meanness. Even going to the picnic yesterday, I was on pins and needles thinking the Chief's might act better than the Selectee's, or that their wives would do that to us new gals, but thankfully I was wrong to worry. At the end of the symposium, CMC said that we are now a part of the family, and I walked away from it FEELING like I had gained a new family.  How cliche right?  Doesn't make it any less true. 

I knew being a Chief was a big deal, but talking to these guys yesterday really opened my eyes at just how big of a deal it is.  These guys eat, sleep, train, and work together.  In kind of reminds me of shows/movies about fire fighters.  How they have their firehouse and they all sit around shooting the bull, just a close-knit group of guys.  Exchange 'firehouse' for 'Chief's Mess' and you've hit the nail right on the head. It's a special feeling and it makes me even more proud of Kendall and the other guys.  

It's a stressful time and I'm doing my best to be supportive because I think it's what they need right now. I'm doing my best to make sure they're eating, maybe it's the Southern in me, or maybe it's because I know they are so busy they LITERALLY forget that they haven't eaten since 0600. Even if that's all I can do, I'll do it if it'll help these guys get through their Season. I feel like a den mother to a bunch of rambunctious little boys, but I enjoy it. I blame my mother. She's a social butterfly herself and I guess it rubbed off on me. My house stays a bit dirtier than usual these days.  There are uniforms, sharpies, folders and laptops scattered all over my dining room table, my kitchen has some extra dishes in the sink and there are 7 cars parked in my yard.  It's stressful, yes, but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Drumroll Please...

Okay, so in my last post I mentioned a thing that I felt I needed to write about but couldn't because of my being superstitious. I can discuss it now. Actually, what I mean to say is that I'll be shouting out as loud as humanly possible that....

MY HUSBAND MADE CHIEF!!!!!

Does it pay to be superstitious? Maybe. Maybe not.  Either way, the list dropped, I saw his name and almost fainted.  

As a military wife, you watch your husband work his tail off to further his career and oftentimes his hard work and dedication go unnoticed. So when they advance, or get an award or medal, it's kind of a big deal. My husband has put his all in to making Chief. It's something he's wanted since our last shore duty. That's when he really got in to the mindset that he was staying Navy and wanted a great career out of it.  He has worked so hard that he was able to take the E7 exam a year early and he made it on his first try which is something else to be thrilled about all on it's own.  It happens, but it's rare to make it your first time up. 

I don't know what all this means for our family now. Our orders could change, the ship we currently have orders to may not need another Chief, so we'll see about that.  I know he'll have a 6 week indoc-type period that will keep him away from the house for most of the day and we're prepared for that.  Seeing the look on his face when it finally sunk in to him makes all of it worth it. 

We had a number of our friends become CPO Selectees as well and we couldn't be more excited for them! Advancing to the storied rank is a massive deal to our Sailors. They become Senior Enlisted personnel, it's like the big leagues.  

Last night while making dinner my husband starts telling me what to do with the food, not in a bossy way but he's very authoritative at times.  So I stop and look at him and say, "Whoa now Chief Select..."  and I'd be lying if I said that didn't sound awesome rolling off my tongue. I can't wait for Pinning day to make it official!  

When we met he was an E4 and at that time in our marriage, I didn't understand just what it meant to advance. We've come a long way together, him doing all the work of course, but I supported him through it all, and still do. I was stuck in the middle of some, half laugh, half cry limbo for about an hour yesterday. I had prepared myself in case his name wasn't listed, I had prepared myself in case it WAS listed.  I had wanted to wake him up (how he was able to nap knowing the results were about to come out is beyond me) with a shot of tequila and be all like, "Take a shot with me, Chief."  Instead however, I literally screamed and just ran in to the room shouting that he'd made it. Don't judge me.  Not a terrible way to be woken up from a nap though! 

There is one man in particular that Kendall really looks up to, this man and his mentoring is a big reason Kendall worked so hard to advance.  I won't name names, and he'll probably never see this but you know who you are, Shipmate.   ;)  Next time we see him, we'll be buying him a beer for sure! I think that every military man or woman has at least one person that they'll be grateful for for years to come, and he's ours. 

So there you have it, folks! The blog I have been hoping and praying I could post since January when the exam took place. I couldn't be more thrilled and proud of my husband. Seeing him get to where he's worked so hard to be is an amazing feeling. Time to get started sewing some patches on uniforms!  When he made E6, I had told him I would NOT be sewing anymore patches on to a uniform until he made Chief.  I'll stand by my word. :)