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. :)
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