Andrew Acomb

The Commanding Officer of the USS Ohio (SSGN 726) enjoys a fine cigar on the sail before getting the submarine underway. The Blue Crew left Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for the Pacific early this morning.

If your just a split second too late, you may miss that moment you want to capture. It’s often challenging and sometimes frustrating, but extremely rewarding when you can get it. This is another candid portrait of a selectee during the 2006 CPO initiation season.

If your looking to improve your candid shots, check out the Digital Photography School Blog entry called 11 Tips for Better Candid Photography. It’s a good list of tips to start with.

I tried to get at least a couple of candid portraits of each selectee during the 2006 CPO initiation season. I think most of the time, these are the best kind of portraits. They can really capture a moment.

During the 2006 CPO initiation season, each selectee was given a moment to say a few things about their experiences that brought them to this point. In any job, and in life, it is important to remember the people, experiences, and choices made, whether good or bad, that helped get you to where you are now. Learning from the past will help you to control your present and change your future. In their new positions as Chiefs, they no longer wear the white hat. This was the last time they ever wore them.

Here a Navy Chief inspects the charge book of a CPO selectee at a weekly training event during the 2006 initiation season.

Charge Book: “During World War II, Commanding Officers were authorized to advance and promote deserving and qualified sailors to the highest enlisted rank of Chief Petty Officer. The determination of ‘deserving and qualified’ could be difficult for the CO. The situation also presented
challenges to the Sailor who aspired to attain a Chief rating. From these dilemmas sprang the original charge books. Chiefs began to direct PO1’s to prepare themselves to assume the additional responsibilities. Ship’s professional libraries were nonexistent or poorly stocked and much had to be learned directly from conversations with the Chiefs themselves and taken down to be studied later. In addition to the technical aspects of the various ratings, CPO’s also talked to the PO1’s about leadership, accountability, supporting the chain of command, and other subject matter often using personal experiences to illustrate how something should (or should not) be done. The collection of notes and study material eventually came to be called a ‘Charge Book’ perhaps because those who kept them were their ‘Charges’(entrusted to their care) for professional development or perhaps because the entries included ‘Charges’ (authoritative instructions or tasking of a directive nature).”

Here’s another post about being a CPO selectee. If you think about it, this will be the last time the CPO selectees will ever have to wear The White Hat.

This experience of becoming a CPO can be a huge part of someone’s Navy career. So many things can be learned and so many memorable experiences can be created. It’s important to remember this time. Make sure someone is there taking pictures! Here are a few more portraits: Long Day, Phone Talker, Portrait From Initiation Part 1, Portrait From Initiation Part 2.