The Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, Steven S. Giordano, toured Okinawa Sept. 14-16, where he attended the Chief Petty Officer Pinning Ceremony and met with Sailors.

The tour to Okinawa was part of MCPON's visit to Japan where he assessed the climate of the Navy's personnel in the Pacific area of responsibility and the forward deployed Naval Forces.

At an All-Hands Call, Giordano addressed Sailors' concerns. He also thanked the Sailors for their service and their sacrifices.

"Thank you for who you are," said Giordano. "Our Navy couldn't do what it does if you were not out there operating in some of those tough environments that we ask you to operate in and you do a great job."

Giordano spoke at the island's Chief Petty Officer Pinning Ceremony where more than 35 Chiefs received their anchors and combination covers among family and fellow Chiefs.

Giordano said the mark of a true chief petty officer comes from the example he or she sets for junior Sailors.

"Be authentic, be who you are, know who you are and let that show in every conversation that you have with your Sailors," said Giordano. "I ask you to be confident in all that you do, be a continuous learner every day and pass the knowledge on to those Sailors that come on behind us so that our Navy will continue to be our strongest Navy our world has ever known. And finally I'd ask you to be courageous people, be courageous for our Sailors and our families who can't work through the fear that they have inside them. We need you to be those people for our Navy and be confident and humble leaders. That is truly what a chief petty officer is in every regard."

Following the ceremony, Giordano spent time meeting and taking pictures with Sailors.

"It was really good to see MCPON and senior leadership taking time out to talk to us and let us express our concerns," said Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Jerome Hodge, assigned to Commander Fleet Activities Okinawa. "It made me feel good because it shows that they always have time for us."

Equipment Operator 3rd Class Whitney Cedilloglasgow, assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3, said she liked the meeting a lot.

"I feel like he really cared about us to fly all the way over to Okinawa to come talk to us one on one," said Cedilloglasgow upon meeting MCPON for the first time.

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