At 11 AM on 29 January, the U.S. Navy continued their legacy traditions of honor, commitment, and courage with the 2021 Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Pinning Ceremony held at Naval Air Station Fallon. Eleven CPO selects were promoted to the rank of chief after pinning their anchors.
The pinning ceremony is the culmination of a six-week intense training program where senior enlisted leaders are challenged on their leadership and mentoring abilities. During this training period, a senior CPO will mentor a CPO selectee and guide them to becoming a stronger leader.
This year, the 11 CPO selects taking this major step in their Naval careers were ADC David Gates, AMEC Trent Kelly, ITC Matthew McKenna, AMEC David Montesdeoca, AOC William Smith, AMC Joseph Wolf, MAC Jeremy Johnson, EODC Jonathan O’Neal, ACC Joseph Spicuzza, PRC James Wilson and AGC Matthew Gowdy.
The ceremony opened with the Parade of Colors; then the Invocation was delivered. Fleet Master Chief (Ret) Michael "Mike" McCalip, the guest speaker for the event, provided the keynote address along with some insights and advice to the group. He discussed some of the things he learned from his first chief, his grandfather who made chief in 1939 on the cusp of war. One thing McCalip always remembered his grandfather saying word for word, was, “Change, it's coming, and you can't stop it. Figure out how to lead and manage change or get off the bus.”
The Master Chief also told the group that today's Navy is the strongest, most powerful Navy on the globe. The Navy is significantly different today - from the people, to the capabilities, to the technology – the list of differences goes on and on. He closed with one last piece of advice, with words that should be thought about differently: Think outside of the box and get outside of your comfort zone. He suggested that people should think about how they can make that box bigger, so that thinking outside the comfort zone gets the resources and backing of the command to make their ideas successful.
The symbolic meaning of the Chief Petty Officer Anchor was presented to the group, after which the ceremonial Pinning of the Chief Petty Officers took place. Readings of the CPO Creed and CPO Pledge were done, the Benediction was given, and the 2021 CPO Pinning Ceremony was brought to a close.
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