By Bill Grace
Special to The Herald
The grease in the gears of today’s successful Navy is in its traditions. Beliefs were fought for, techniques were honed on the seas, and all skills are learned by the sweat of the seaman’s brow and passed on like a precious and necessary heirloom.
This respect for the importance of the crew’s education extends to the functions of the ship and way beyond the gray of its hull. The Navy encourages, and even pays for, interested sailors to get various levels of college degrees. The SMART program helps them translate some of their practical work experience into comparable college credit.
Program Afloat College Education, or PACE, the program under which I teach, offers them the real classroom experience of lectures, notes, discussion and tests.
A lot must be said for the talking up that these courses receive onboard the USS Decatur. Many of my students are graduates of the just-completed English class. Their shipmates talk of other classes that they have taken or would like to take. Throughout the command, from top to bottom, the enthusiasm for continuing education for the crew is remarkably strong.
One of many people sharing this commitment is Command Master Chief Pretlow.
After 19 years in the Navy, Pretlow has a footlocker of experience that he tries to share with his shipmates. He always tries to guide them but accepts that he can’t always get his young sailors to heed.
If the captain is the brains of the ship, Pretlow is the heart and definitely the smile of the ship.
As command master chief, he has risen to a position reached by less than 1 percent of the enlisted men. He sees his job absolutely as a leader, but also, in practice and reality, he is a guidance counselor and a role model.
"I get a great joy leading a large group," he says as easily and honestly as breathing. "This is all a new experience to these sailors. And I can let them know that there is nothing that they are experiencing, feeling or fearing that hasn’t been felt before." Along with 21 chiefs below him, they have a combined 300 years and more of Navy experiences marked by good times, bad times and personal growth.
"The book may say one thing, but there is nothing that can replace experience."
His strong religious belief supports and encourages him as he works with his shipmates. It gives him the strength and versatility to wear the many hats of a guide, a mentor, a boss, an ear, a friend … and that is just the beginning of the list. It also allows him to understand and accept the limits that his advice may have.
"People ask me, "When do you plan on retiring, Master Chief?" and I tell them that I will retire when my smile goes away and I can no longer impact and help my young sailors."
Now there is a tradition to live by.
Bill Grace of Everett will send periodic dispatches from aboard the USS Decatur during its deployment. He’s on board as a U.S. government teacher in the Program Afloat College Education. He can be reached at grace@decatur.navy.mil.
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