Amid the mentoring and guiding at the 2019 Great Lakes Region Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Symposium, held April 1-2 at Recruit Training Command (RTC), there was also talk about real-life issues that affect today’s Navy and how chief petty officers can better prepare themselves and their Sailors for them.

Many of the guest speakers focused on warfighting, knowledge, and reality that we do not know when or where the threat will strike, while others focused on gender issues and family readiness. Regardless of the topic, the two-day event provided the opportunity for CPOs to gather together, receive professional development, and celebrate the 126th birthday of the establishment of the chief petty officer.

“We have to get together as chiefs and talk about being chiefs and sharpen our knives to be better chiefs,” said RTC’s Command Master Chief David Twiford. “It doesn’t come automatically. You don’t put the hat on and think all of the sudden, ‘I got it.’ You have to invest for yourself to become a better chief. I need to be able to give this Sailor a few hours a month to say, ‘These are the tools that will make you a better chief when you are on the deck plate.’ This event does that.”

The common thread in many of the briefs was the ability to be ready when the enemy attacks, something of which Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) Russell Smith believes the CPOs in Great Lakes have a clear understanding of, because of the nature of their duties.

“We have enemies who would do us harm,” said Smith. “What the recruit division commanders and instructors here at Great Lakes do is prepare our Sailors to face that, and we’ve never been better postured to prepare our force for what comes next than we are right now.”

The symposium covered two days and featured briefs from MCPON, four fleet master chiefs, four force master chiefs, and active and retired members of the Mess all discussing topics that affect the Navy’s ability to complete the mission. There were also break-out sessions for the different rating communities who had force or fleet representation present so they could discuss areas of concern particular to them.

The speakers discussed a wide range of topics covering everything from the health, status and future of the fleet to informative presentations about how to better one’s career and prepare for transitioning from the Navy to civilian life.

Family readiness and work-life balance is often a point of concern for Sailors, so retired Fleet Master Chief Susan Whitman used her time to speak about her 32-year career and how it affected her as wife, a mother and being a woman in the Navy in general. Whitman was selected as fleet master chief in 2015, the first woman to hold the position in the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and said that she had her fair share of detractors, with one Sailor even going as far as telling her she only got the position because she was a woman.

When asked how she dealt with those situations she stated, “I don’t care. I was the best qualified, and I’m proud to say that. There’s going to be haters and there’s going to be backstabbers and the more you take your energy and focus on that, you’re wasting your time,” Keep moving on. That’s not just for women, it’s for the men too.”

For Twiford, it was an opportunity for the chiefs to focus on what matters.

“We had MCPON, fleet master chiefs, force master chiefs, retired command master chiefs, and we weren’t talking about beards. We weren’t talking about rating badges, we weren’t talking about the color of our uniform — we were talking about warfighting,” said Twiford. “Whether it’s manning and getting out of the shipyards, fleet employment practices and how our ships are being used, whether it’s firefighting, damage control, ATFP (anti-terrorism force protection), we’re talking about the stuff that matters,”

Boot camp is approximately eight weeks and all enlistees into the U.S. Navy begin their careers at RTC. Training includes physical fitness, seamanship, firearms, firefighting and shipboard damage control along with lessons in Navy heritage and core values, teamwork and discipline. More than 35,000 recruits train annually at RTC and begin their Navy careers.

For more news from Recruit Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/.

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