CPO Heritage Day - Day 1

Retirees on the Quarterdeck

Forgive me as I'm still playing catch up on my blogging.

So last week was CPO Heritage Week and the Hampton Roads Naval Museum was center stage it seemed.

So Monday, the 21st of August, was overcast and rainy.  So the Chief Selects weren't really able to PT (i.e. work out) outside.

A view of Wisconsin's guns.

 This is really about the history of chiefs and is only a small part of the weeks long 'event'.

As I said before it was a rainy and gloomy day, but I was lucky enough to snag some rain gear to keep me from getting too sodden and protect my camera.  I quickly found a group of selectees to follow around for the day.  I followed a group from the USS Harry Truman. So I must say that I was pulling for them to win the Chief's Mess Award to be held the next day.  Guess I became a bit biased.

I couldn't pass up the awesome shot with the guns in the background. If ever in the area I highly recommend visiting the USS Wisconsin.

The cutlass!

There were a number of different stations to visit.

I think I enjoyed this station the best.  I mean there is something to be said about a man in uniform.  And the whites are just my absolute favorite!

This station told a little about the history of the chief's cutlass.  They also showed how it was worn and what uniform items that would be needed and when to wear them.

Taking notes.

Lee, a retired Navy captain, gave a talk inside the battleship.  This was given in the mess.  At least it looked like the mess to me.

Afterwards people were able to look around and see some of the displays before heading off to the next station.

Does that say danger?

I'm not all that familiar with the ship, so bear with me.

I was unable to follow the talk at most of the stations, because lets face it I have the attention span of a gnat.  Plus I had the guy on the left cracking me up!  You always get a few that will ham it up for you when they notice a camera.  LOL

Discussing the Flying Chiefs

I do recall that our next stop was a station that discussed the Flying Chiefs.  Please note that I've been trying to add links to things that I really don't know much about.

Such as the life of a chief and chief selectees in general.

Light show

The next station we went to was combat.  Now that's a place I will actually pay attention.  lol  There is the mention of how the Wisconsin is cared for by many volunteers.  Take that hint here.  What I really liked was the light display.  A blue light would light up in sections of the area where a 'person' was talking.  It managed to give you a slight feel for where and how things went.  Pretty cool!  And I really liked the look of this photo.

The next station dealt with the uniform.  The history and how its changed.  It was interesting to see the female uniforms.

The gentleman who gave this talk is stationed up in DC.  Which is funny because we had just been up in that area not long ago.

Tom Dandes addressing the crowd.

The final stop was in the chief's mess.  Tom Dande's, my boss, was at the station.