By Navy Chief Petty Officer Aaron Arendes
Submarine Group 9
BANGOR, Wash., May 7, 2014 – When siblings join the Navy,
many go on separate career paths and see each other only during the holidays.
Two brothers stationed in the Pacific Northwest submarine
force, however, have shared several milestones in their careers, including
pinning on the rank of master chief petty officer together May 2.
Master Chief Petty Officer Chris Konopka, the elder of the
two, is the engineering department master chief on board USS Kentucky, and
Master Chief Petty Officer Jeremy Konopka is the USS Henry M. Jackson Blue Crew
chief of the boat.
When they pinned on their rank in a ceremony at Deterrent
Park here, it was the third time they’ve been able to share in a new rank.
“I can’t even describe it. It was just awesome to see us
both on the list,” Jeremy said. “We were both up for it last year, and neither
of us made it. I’m so happy everything worked out the way it did. It’s probably
one of the best moments, I think, brothers can have.”
The brothers grew up in a family that moved frequently due
to their mother’s Navy career -- she was a chief hospital corpsman -- and they consider
Pensacola, Florida, to be their home.
Both joined the Navy in 1995. Jeremy, having joined 11
months before Chris, convinced his brother to join the submarine force, and
they ended up being stationed together at their first duty station, USS Boston.
During that tour, they both advanced to petty officer 2nd class on the same
advancement cycle.
In 2009, Chris and Jeremy were both chief petty officers
stationed at different locations, and when the senior chief petty officer
advancement results came out, Jeremy saw he and his brother had made rank
together a second time. This time, though, Chris was in the middle of a move
and didn’t have access to the selection board results. Jeremy gave him a call
to tell him they made it, but just as a brother would, he teased him with the
results.
“Jeremy calls me up to tell me he made it, so I asked him if
I made it,” Chris said. “Then he asks me, ‘Are you sure you want to know? Are
you really, sure you want to know? Yeah, you made it.’ Then, my wife and I were
doing the happy dance.”
Eventually, the Konopka brothers ended up being stationed in
the same geographical area, serving on ballistic missile submarines, and when
the master chief selection board results came out May 1, history had repeated
itself. This time, they said, they wanted to do something special, so during
the ceremony, they decided to pin an anchor on each other at the same time.
“This is only the second time our career paths have crossed
since both of us joined,” Jeremy said. “We’ve followed each other in our
careers, and it’s great to be stationed close to him, but this is just the
icing on the cake that we could be pinned together.”
When the brothers joined the Navy, they said their goodbyes
to each other and never expected to see each other in the fleet, much less be
able to share three important career milestones.
“I never would have thought, looking back when we were both
on our first boat together, that we would be putting on master chief at the
same time, much less pinning each other,” Jeremy said.
Chris said he feels very lucky to have had things work out
the way they did.
“It’s just awesome,” he said. “We not only got to make 2nd
class, senior chief and master chief at the same time, but neither of us was at
sea when the results came out. I should buy a lottery ticket!”
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment