Commander, Submarine Atlantic's Chief Legalman Rebecca Miles mentors chief petty officer (CPO) selectees in Boston aboard USS Constitution "Old Ironsides" during heritage week, Aug. 29 through Sept. 2.

Spanning two weeks, "Old Ironsides" hosted 120 CPO selectees and 21 mentor chiefs, broken down into groups of 60 selectees and 10 mentors for each week.

"CPO Heritage Week takes place once a year over the course of two weeks," said Miles. "Chief selectees and mentors spend a week doing team building exercises mimicking what Constitution Sailors may have done during their time on board including rowing drills in small boats in the harbor, cannon firing drills, pike drills and a lot of community relation projects."

One such community relation projects included visiting Medal of Honor recipient retired Capt. Thomas J. Hudner to celebrate his 92nd birthday by bringing cake and marching through the streets of his neighborhood singing "Anchors Away" and "Happy Birthday" Aug 31.

During the week, CPO selectees worked aboard "Old Ironsides" where they were immersed in more than 200 years of naval heritage while learning the art of sailing, construction of the ship while she is docked, handling 19th century guns and man her gigs, as well as learning from the unique experiences from each of the mentor chiefs.

"My unique position as a chief legalman gave me the ability to speak about integrity in the mess as well as misconduct," said Miles. "Being promoted to chief and changing uniforms not only requires you to always be above reproach, but also to train each other and our Sailors, officers and enlisted, on ethical behavior in and out of uniform."

No matter what rating a chief petty officer may have, when it comes to deck plate leadership, a chief is a chief. Each chief, senior chief and master chief selected as a mentor brings different perspective, experiences and unique leadership style to offer the selectees.

"I have had amazing mentors in my career, past and present, that have invested so much in me and my hope is to share what I have experienced, successes and failures, to each CPO selectee I have the opportunity to reach," said Miles. "The beauty of it is each mentor has had the ability to interact with every single selectee and provide knowledge and guidance throughout the week. It has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career!"

USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate, named by President George Washington. Launched in 1794, Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world.

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