The music blared and vibrant lights filled the air in the ballroom as Sailors donning elaborate evening gowns, dress suits, and decorative masquerade masks came together at the Hampton Roads Convention Center on the evening of Nov. 30.

The First Class Petty Officer Association (FCPOA) of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) was responsible for the glitz and glam, hosting the inaugural First Class Petty Officer’s Ball, which was open to commands from around the Hampton Roads area.                  

"This was all about camaraderie," said Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Handling) 1st Class Jade Cobb, George Washington's V-3 division leading petty officer. "We just got a new [FCPOA] cabinet back in August, so we wanted to create some camaraderie among the current first class mess. We feel that it's important to get everyone comfortable with each other and the decisions that we're going to be making in the future."

The idea of a first class petty officer’s ball developed from a desire to increase involvement within that community. George Washington's first class mess took charge of this task, and set a goal to bring together first class petty officers from all over the area.

"We wanted to do something fun that had never been done before," said Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Handling) 1st Class Rashawn Orr, George Washington's training department leading petty officer and FCPOA president. "Initially, we set out to get some participation within the first class mess. That kind of evolved into 'well, how many people can we reach with this?' When we first brought it up to first classes from other commands, they thought it was a joke. They thought that there was no way that we could pull off something this massive. When they realized that we were serious, and that this was actually happening, they asked us to come to their commands and sell tickets."

The presence of Sailors from various commands created a diverse environment. This allowed Sailors who may have never met to network and build lasting relationships.

“We spread the news of the ball mainly by word of mouth,” said Cobb. “I just came from [Transient Personnel Unit] over in Norfolk, so I reached out to the FCPOA president over there. There are first classes here on the Washington that know other first classes at different commands, so it was literally the [George Washington] first classes reaching out to other first classes that we know. We emailed them the flyers with all of the information and became their point of contact for sending invites and selling tickets. We decided to open it up to all first classes, so there were people from other ships that we were able to meet and fellowship with. There were definitely some new friendships formed.”

With the success of the event, the George Washington FCPOA and other commands already have their sights set on next year, and are exploring ways to build off this year’s success.

“All-in-all, I think it turned out great,” said Orr. “For it to be the first time, I think we accomplished things that no one has done. The competitions and games we played, the food, just the entire vibe; everything was amazing. We’ve set the bar for what should follow and I’ve already had representatives from other organizations reach out and ask what can be done to make this event even bigger and better next time.”

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