bobdina
09-18-2009, 02:57 AM
Husband, wife pin on anchors
By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Sep 17, 2009 8:08:36 EDT
Some might call it the tightest run household in the Navy — others might just say it’s a mess all its own.
Whatever you call it, it was a great day for the Lujan family in Washington, D.C., where both Mom and Dad pinned on chief petty officer anchors during the same ceremony held on the parade field at the Washington Navy Yard — with the help of two of their children.
The ceremony was one of many around the Navy on Wednesday as Sept. 16 is the traditional day the Navy frocks all its chief petty officer selectees to their new rank.
Navy-wide it was a tough year to put on anchors, with overall active-duty opportunity sliding to 18.77 percent of eligible candidates, down from 20.19 percent last year.
It was also the lowest overall opportunity in a decade, but still above the 14.37 percent shot sailors had in fiscal 1999.
Still, Navy-wide, 3,697 first class petty officers handed in their utilities for khaki shirts and pants — and best of all, shiny new anchors.
But finding out they were on that list of selectees wasn’t quite normal for either Chief Yeoman (SW/AW) Luis Lujan or his wife, Chief Hospital Corpsman Monico Lujan.
“I work for Vice Adm. Mark Ferguson in the secretariat office,” Luis Lujan said. “I got called into his office that day but I really didn’t have an idea why.
While Luis was standing tall in front of his boss, a few miles away and across the Potomac River Monico was on hold after having been called by someone at the Navy Annex — where her husband works — but not given any more information.
“All they said was they were putting me on hold and that they couldn’t tell me yet what for,” she said. “After a little wait, someone came on the line, asked if I was Petty Officer Lujan and identified himself as Vice Adm. Ferguson.”
With Luis’ wife on the phone, Ferguson said with a great big smile, “I’d like to be the first to congratulate you both on making chief petty officer.”
Until Wednesday, that was one of their most memorable days in the Navy — and one that will be hard to beat.
Monico elected not to be pinned with her five fellow chief selectees at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., in order to be pinned with her husband and the 32 other selectees from the Naval District Washington.
Monico was pinned first by her daughter, Lauryn, aged 9, and then her husband, who pinned the second collar.
The scene was repeated for Luis, but this time it was their son Keiran, 4, who did the first honors, with Monico pinning his second collar.
As is the tradition, they both received their coveted chief’s cover from their sponsors into the local mess.
“It was a little tough to leave my fellow selectees in Bethesda, but this was a phenomenal situation,” Monico said just moments after the ceremony. “There really aren’t words to describe what this means.”
Luis said that both are up for orders. Though they’d like to both get stationed in Japan or Hawaii, what matters most is keeping their own little chief’s mess together.
“We really don’t care where we end up,” he said. “As long as it’s somewhere we can be together.”
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/09/navy_chief_pinning_091609/
By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Sep 17, 2009 8:08:36 EDT
Some might call it the tightest run household in the Navy — others might just say it’s a mess all its own.
Whatever you call it, it was a great day for the Lujan family in Washington, D.C., where both Mom and Dad pinned on chief petty officer anchors during the same ceremony held on the parade field at the Washington Navy Yard — with the help of two of their children.
The ceremony was one of many around the Navy on Wednesday as Sept. 16 is the traditional day the Navy frocks all its chief petty officer selectees to their new rank.
Navy-wide it was a tough year to put on anchors, with overall active-duty opportunity sliding to 18.77 percent of eligible candidates, down from 20.19 percent last year.
It was also the lowest overall opportunity in a decade, but still above the 14.37 percent shot sailors had in fiscal 1999.
Still, Navy-wide, 3,697 first class petty officers handed in their utilities for khaki shirts and pants — and best of all, shiny new anchors.
But finding out they were on that list of selectees wasn’t quite normal for either Chief Yeoman (SW/AW) Luis Lujan or his wife, Chief Hospital Corpsman Monico Lujan.
“I work for Vice Adm. Mark Ferguson in the secretariat office,” Luis Lujan said. “I got called into his office that day but I really didn’t have an idea why.
While Luis was standing tall in front of his boss, a few miles away and across the Potomac River Monico was on hold after having been called by someone at the Navy Annex — where her husband works — but not given any more information.
“All they said was they were putting me on hold and that they couldn’t tell me yet what for,” she said. “After a little wait, someone came on the line, asked if I was Petty Officer Lujan and identified himself as Vice Adm. Ferguson.”
With Luis’ wife on the phone, Ferguson said with a great big smile, “I’d like to be the first to congratulate you both on making chief petty officer.”
Until Wednesday, that was one of their most memorable days in the Navy — and one that will be hard to beat.
Monico elected not to be pinned with her five fellow chief selectees at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., in order to be pinned with her husband and the 32 other selectees from the Naval District Washington.
Monico was pinned first by her daughter, Lauryn, aged 9, and then her husband, who pinned the second collar.
The scene was repeated for Luis, but this time it was their son Keiran, 4, who did the first honors, with Monico pinning his second collar.
As is the tradition, they both received their coveted chief’s cover from their sponsors into the local mess.
“It was a little tough to leave my fellow selectees in Bethesda, but this was a phenomenal situation,” Monico said just moments after the ceremony. “There really aren’t words to describe what this means.”
Luis said that both are up for orders. Though they’d like to both get stationed in Japan or Hawaii, what matters most is keeping their own little chief’s mess together.
“We really don’t care where we end up,” he said. “As long as it’s somewhere we can be together.”
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/09/navy_chief_pinning_091609/