A motto shared fleet-wide by petty officers first class is "First there were Firsts," a tribute to what used to be the highest enlisted rank on ships until chief petty officers came along in 1893.

Now there are 23 more petty officers first class (PO1s) aboard aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73). The crew held a frocking ceremony in the ship's hangar bay the evening of Dec. 8, and members of the ship's First Class Petty Officers' Association (FCPOA) welcomed the frockees by giving them a new set of first class rank insignia.

"It's been humbling and overwhelming," said newly frocked Petty Officer 1st Class Kyle Amstead, of GW's Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department (AIMD). "You don't know how many people really care until you see them and they congratulate you."

One of the people who congratulated Amstead has known him since he was a third class petty officer in 2010.

"We were in Sigonella, Sicily, together, and he was running a work center as a [petty officer] third class," said Petty Officer 1st Class Edgar Floresalba, Amstead's leading petty officer in AIMD's IM-4 Division. "He was TAD (temporary assigned duty) there from Florida, and I was surprised to see him leading a work center -- both because he was TAD and being just a third class. He could have said he didn't want to do it, but he saw the need for leadership and he took it."

Before the ceremony, the FCPOA held a meeting to welcome the new PO1s.

"I was very happy to get him into the mess," said Floresalba about Amstead. "I knew he was going to get it this time, because last time he barely missed it. I knew this was the cycle he was going to smoke the test and make it. He's been well prepared and is ready to be a first class."

Amstead has been in the Navy for 10 years now, and said he hopes to continue learning from fellow PO1s and anyone else he encounters.

"You can learn from the newest check-in, and you can learn from a four, five, six-year first class," said Amstead. "You can learn something from anybody. You just have to keep an open mind, and being a leader, that's what you have to do."

For newly-selected Petty Officer 1st Class Paige Smith, the promotion has changed her outlook on her Navy career.

"I'm in it for the long run now," said Smith. "I was through the door on my way out of the Navy. I saw this as a sign that I'm meant to be here, and now I'm looking at staying in the Navy, going to shore duty, and I'm going to try to keep pushing on the track I'm on now."

Shortly after the selection results were announced Nov. 23, GW's FCPOA professional development committee began training the new frockees on what life as a petty officer first class is all about.

"We try to take our collective knowledge as a mess and empower our junior Sailors, and prepare them for future leadership positions," said Petty Officer 1st Class Travis Raney, a member of the professional development committee. "As a first class, you're looked at as a chief-in-waiting. You're assuming more responsibility and you move to a more hands-off, supervisory role."

Raney gave advice to all the new PO1s about how to handle the pressures of their new position.

"To every new leader I talk with, I try to stress integrity, honesty and humility," said Raney. "You have to have those three things so your junior Sailors can trust you. It's important the new first classes know that as a mess, it's a team effort, and we're here to support each other."

The crew's PO1s will continue to mentor and guide their own newly-frocked petty officers, instilling mottos like "First there were Firsts" as these new leaders become more familiar with everything that comes with wearing a third chevron.

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