Treasure Chest Thursday - Military Record Pt. 4

Transfer of duty station.

The first item today is a document indicating a change in duty station, or where the service member lived and worked.  This particular example shows Estel Dillman completed duty under instruction (training) at the Naval Training Station near Cleveland, Ohio, where he took a course on Engineering, and scored 3.75 out of a possible 4.  Not a bad grade!  Training being ended, he's being transferred somewhere that the Navy can make use of this newly trained individual, namely the Navy Yard at Mare Island, California.  There, he is to join the crew working to complete the USS Le Hardy (DE-20) and to join the crew of said destroyer when it is commissioned.  Again, this is data we can use to construct a timeline of service for a service member, locations where they were at a given point in time, and to some degree, what they were doing.

The second document for today is  a happy thing.  It shows that Estel was promoted from Machinist's Mate 1st Class (MM1c) to Chief Machinist's Mate (Acting Appointment) or MMC (AA).  Each branch of the service has their own points considered major milestones in a career.  In the Navy, probably the biggest milestone is the achievement of the rank of Chief Petty Officer, or E-7.  There are further ranks above this, but this particular promotion has special elaborate private ceremonies of other Chief Petty Officers and above (often in times past including hazing of the promoted individual), and additional public ceremonies or parties for friends and relatives to celebrate the promotion.  Chief Petty Officers usually have their own separate mess (dining) facilities aboard ship, with separate cooks and menus, and food purchased by the CPO organization aboard ship.  The general consensus is that the Chiefs' Mess has the best meals on the ship, better even than the Officers' Mess.  So at least on board ship, being a CPO is the thing to be.  

Chiefs are the middle management and mentors of the Navy.  While they're usually not afraid to get their hands dirty, they tend to spend more time directing the efforts of subordinates, and providing them with the benefit of their wisdom.  Just as an Army Lieutenant would do well to heed the advice of their sergeants, a Navy officer would do equally as well to pay close attention to the advice of their Chief Petty Officers.

Treasure Chest Thursday – create a post with the main focus being a family treasure, an heirloom or even an every-day item important to your family. A special thanks to Leslie Ann Ballou of Lost Family Treasures for suggesting Treasure Chest Thursday as a daily blogging theme!  (Blurb shamelessly stolen from Thomas McEntee at Geneabloggers!)