Personal Narrative: Take Backs From The Chief Petty Officer Academy

I have been accepted to AFS-USA's international exchange program to Norway. I will be spending my sophomore year living with a host family and going to school at a local upper secondary school. I am awaiting the information regarding where I will be located in Norway, as well as my paperwork for a Norwegian visa. As long as the final stages of my application go through, I will depart this August and return the following July.

The Chief Petty Officer Academy (CPOA) is a five week program directed towards developing Chiefs to become stronger more effective leaders for future generations. The Chiefs Academy promotes unifying the Chiefs mess with various leadership tactics to enhance individual leadership. The leadership tools that have helped me develop as a leader include the Stress Map, the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) 360 feedback report as well as the class on coaching others. These tools have assisted towards reflecting on my current leadership style and will contribute towards my development as a leader.

On 01-25-17 I responded to the above address. Upon arrival I observed an officer talking to Ciro Castro who was speaking through a brocken window in the door and he refused to come outside. I also saw Christine Young sitting on the ground in the neighbors yard talking to Ofc Matthews.

Throughout my time at CPO Academy I have been personally struck by the depth of knowledge, professionalism, and character of all the staff and for the first time felt a real palpable sense of being involved in something special with a real sense of purpose and a very long and special history. The CPO Academy brings the idea to the surface what most members only think about in passing, and that is how important the rank of the Chief Petty Officer is in the Coast Guard both now and into the future. The most important lessons that I have learned from and will take back to my unit from the CPO Academy include the lessons learned from The Leadership Challenge, a more dedicated sense and commitment to my health and physical fitness, as well as the value in the lessons learned from Sexual Assault Prevention & Response.

A normal day at army navy academy consists of waking up at 7 O’Clock sharp getting dressed into our uniform of the day whether that was camos or a light blue wool uniform, and going to class but today was saturday so we could do whatever we put our minds to. It was 2 O’Clock when we set off on foot to do something as long as it wasn’t nothing, I honestly had no clue what we were going to do we were just a couple bored 8th grade kids. We arrive at smart and final. I roam through the store not knowing what our goal was being here, other than loafing around touching various objects from beach balls to random boxes of foodstuffs. We didn’t know how this day would change drastically for us, but we were just having fun. That wasn’t what we told the cops however. I was with two of my “pals” named Brinkus and Theo. It was boredom that pushed us to do what we did. I however was just hanging out with friends, many things were going through my head and I didn’t ever think about the outcome of this.

Over the 47-month experience, that is West Point. The Academy attempts to instill many valuable attributes and qualities into every Cadet. However, at the end of the 47-month experience, West Point believes that all of its graduates have instilled in them the proper values and knowledge to be able to accomplish all eight of the West Point Leader Development system outcomes. While my time at west point is not yet complete, I believe that I am well on my way to develop all eight outcomes. So far, the outcomes that I have developed the most at West Point are live honorably and build trust, and seeking balance and resilience.

Life at the Academy is rough. There are days the midshipmen will love it and other days when they hate it. Eventually, I understand that the loves out weigh the hates, however, in the beginning, especially during plebe year, it may feel overwhelming to many. Many Naval Academy graduates say the “Naval Academy is a tough place to be, but a great place to be from.” Concerning that, there were some regulations that I only discovered with further observation. Mealtime is an example of those ever so important Naval Academy rituals, demonstrating the unique training program of our military. At all formal meals, plebes only use the front three or four inches of their chairs, sitting at attention, with the exception of the chairs in the academic buildings and plebe/Fourth Class dorm-rooms. Also when walking down corridors they can

I arrived in Korea from Ft. Bragg, NC in December 20, 2001; upon the arrival, I learned that I would be assigned to Charlie Company 1/506th; I was hoping to assign to an anti-tank platoon. This would be the first time since basis training that I would have to use my 11B skills, other than the regular foot marches. My MOS when I joined the army was 11H until the Army grouped the 11 series together into in to 11B and 11C. I was a young SPC; weighing 145 pounds, well physically fit, and had a gun ho mentality. It was a lot to master, but I was determined to show my new chain of command that I can be one of the best in the company. Eight months later I was sent to Air Assault School; after returning from Air Assault School, I immediately sent to the E-5 board, and passed with flying colors. In Charlie Co. if you was going to be a new team leader you first had to be the Platoon RTO. I have been in Korea for 11 months, and I had been an RTO for the last two months.

Throughout my career in the military I have received a tremendous amount of feedback on just about everything I did. Every single time I went to work I was judged on how I performed, my correspondence, and my leadership. My superiors would always be the one critiquing me. In my four years of experience in my job I’ve learned a lot about myself. I specifically learned about what kind of leader I am. Every quarter I was given a counseling on my proficiencies and conduct. When I got the counseling’s, there was not a lot of negative feedback. I was very pleased with what and how I was told about my overall work ethic. When I did receive criticism, it was something I knew already knew I had to work on. I never believed any criticism I received was

I spent 18 months deployed in the Arabian Gulf near the coast of Afghanistan on an

Since joining, I have looked for opportunities to serve others as well as those that have challenged me, personally and professionally. When I advanced to Chief Petty Officer in 2008, more opportunities were made available and I have served in numerous leadership positions in which I provided guidance, mentorship and oversight. I had my first opportunity to serve as a collateral duty Command Chief in 2008. While I was not the most senior Chief at the unit, the Commanding Officer believed I possessed the necessary skills to perform my primary duties along with effectively handling delicate personnel issues ranging in severity and complexity. At the same time I qualified as a Deployable Team Leader, a qualification typically held by a junior officer.

I have been actively seeking the Naval Academy since late middle school, all was going well, I was volunteering in my church and other community organizations, my grades were very high, and I was actively preparing myself for the academy. A wrench was thrown into my plans when I moved to Florida after the end of my sophomore year of high school. I went to a new alien environment and I tried to continue on the path to the academy. I continued my plan to get to the academy by trying to forge new connections through sports and clubs. I was successful in my plan on the community involvement front: I had a good rapport with my coaches, volunteered at the American Legion , and co-founded the local chapter of Health Occupational Students of America.

I recall a few leaders that I have worked for. Unfortunately, not all of them were pleasant to work with. Some abused their powers for their benefits. Or, Some hardly ever showed any affiliation with me and my peers. I want to become a leader who can present a better standard to soldiers. I believe this scholarship and skills that I have been acquiring from my current military career will help me get there.

So, once I decided to move up to the front-line, in the back of my mind I realised that as part of providing this care, I'd have to carry arms to defend myself, and to defend my patients, and those looking after my patients. The front-line was a terrible place. It was situated just over the border from Albania, within Kosovo. The days were quite warm - up to 35 degrees, and the nights cooled down to temperatures just above zero. I set up a surgical unit in a small cave that had been used by shepherds previously. This cave was only situated 300 or so metres from the forwardmost Serbian positions. The cave itself measured only seven or eight metres by four metres across, and I had to do all the operating at the mouth of the cave, to make the

It would be hard to continue this discussion without mentioning my grandfather. I, like yourself, idolize him. He is, to me, the best example of what a man should be like: hard working, responsible, and stoic. I believe that if I became a Marine like him, I would adopt these traits. Currently, I feel like my life doesn’t amount to much as it is. I haven’t done anything notable in my life, and it seems like the same is true for all my peers. I might be overreacting, but something deep down wants me to go through with this. If I were to become a Marine I would be able to travel the world and be given the opportunity to do a job that had importance to the world. Being able to serve my country as a Marine seems like a greater profession than a