You there. You with the brassy new anchors! We're calling in
your debts! You OWE. You owe a lot of people. And now
it's PAYBACK time!
You owe that Chief at boot camp. He chewed your butt, he
screamed at your stupidity. He saw in you the potential to BE
SOMEONE SPECIAL; and, he badgered you to the point of tears to
show you that he saw it.
You owe that Chief from another command who dragged you back to
your bunk the night you figured you could drink beer faster than
those guys could brew it. He did it because you were in his
Navy.
When you were at the end of your first enlistment, there was
that gnarled old Chief. Remember him? The dude who had
been passed over for Chief umpteen times before he made it; and
then, only after two tours in the war zone and taking that piece
in the leg? And you thought how weird he was because he talked
with you about how great the Navy had been to him? And there he
was at two in the morning, patiently waiting until you got the
frigging gear back together and he could tell you a couple more
things for you to consider, and he never quite made it home to his
family that night.
You owe him.
You owe that other Chief, for that time the Old Man had you on
the carpet for some screw up - and, boy was he mad - and it looked
like your ten years in the Navy was down the tubes. And Chief
(What the heck was his name, anyway?) really got into it with
Captain Fang, insisting that you were a damned
good sailor; he saved your buns. And the Old Man took particular
pains to ignore the Chief from then on for arguing with him. The
Chief, he never mentioned it to you or got on your case; he had
done it just because he was your Chief.
And your buddy from two duty stations ago. A First Class Petty
Officer, just like you, remember how he spent hours with you and
the chief's course took so you could understand some obscure but
important stuff and get your multiple so you would at least get
selection board eligible? The list came out this time and he
wasn't picked, but the section he drummed into your head you aced
so well on the exam that you squeezed him out.
Him you owe a lot!
You owe those petty officers and those officers who always
(well usually) gave you the benefit of the doubt at evaluation
time. You never saw it, but they spent a lot of time at their
desks writing evals, searching for the good in you, and taking the
time to write a thoughtful, meaningful and believable report on
you. They faithfully documented the effort you put into your Navy
and your career. They put their reputations on the line when
they pronounced you worthy of promotion. So you got promoted
and promoted and promoted.
Finally to Chief.
An era in your life has ended and a new one begun. You
can't ever go back. You are a Chief now and you will always
be a Chief. You will get admiration and respect. You will
be paying for that admiration and respect from now on!
And, the strange thing is, although you've worked your tail off
for the Navy, the job in front of you is like nothing you have
ever faced before. You have to prove yourself worthy of the
respect given you. You must prove yourself in ALL things now -
everyday. You must demand more of yourself now than anyone
has ever demanded from you before.
You must consistently justify your pride in being a Chief. You
must make your colleagues in khaki proud of your being a Chief.
You must endure to prove those folks who believed in you that
their beliefs were warranted. You owe them. The debt is
called. Now you pay back !
YOU must do the things that Chiefs must do. You must not only
do those things without being told - you must think up those
things. You alone must realize, analyze, prioritize,
improvise, exercise and supervise.
YOU are that Chief in boot camp. YOU are that Chief who saves
sailors from their own folly. YOU are that Chief who is willing to
risk his tail for just treatment of his sailors. And YOU are the
Chief who must see to it that your people become the best that
they can be.
YOU OWE IT.
YOU are the Chief who now must spend extra hours at home on
evaluations and on lesson plans and technical material that makes
your head reel - just because YOU are the Chief. YOU are the Chief
to whom your sailors turn for the answers; to whom your officers
turn for results; and to whom your Captain turns for the wisdom of
experiences like but not like his own.
YOU OWE IT.
You owe your seniors. You owe it to your juniors. You owe it to
the Navy and to your country. Most importantly, you owe it to
every individual who has ever become a Chief.
And you will always be paying this debt that you owe, for
you CANNOT EVER pay it off. The ledger will NEVER be even, for you
must pay the debt not just to the people you owe, but to the new
sailors and the new officers, streams of them, all looking up to
you - the Chief.
YOU must see to it that they end up owing you, yet you must
not ever collect.
You must do these things for one reason only; You are a
Chief. You will always be a Chief. You now must change the lives
of others.
You are the best of the best of the best. And so you must
always be nothing less than that.
You must pay what you owe forever, but no one will ask
you to do it.
No one should have to ask.
YOU ARE THE CHIEF!
Good Luck Chief,
Written by M S Heeney, Captain, USN-R
