I'm proud of my crew

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I've been very blessed with my crew on the Mighty MSP. It's been a bumpy road for sure (the accident in December, firing the COB in May, changing homeports from Norfolk to Pearl Harbor...), but my crew continues to impress me with their ability to stick together and support each other through difficult times and challenging circumstances.

What reminded me of this today was the PRT this afternoon. Most of us ran the PRT last week, but we had a make-up PRT this afternoon. We had six guys who, well, let's just say they did a practice PRT last week and didn't do so well. The COB and I went to the make-up PRT this afternoon to provide moral support and root the guys on.

When I got there, I was surprised to find that there were almost as many guys there for moral support as there were there to actually take the PRT. Each of the guys who didn't do so well on their practice run last week had at least two guys running with them this afternoon, encouraging them along the way. I let them all take off running and I positioned myself about a quarter mile from the finish line to cheer the guys in and run with the last couple of guys into the finish line. I wish I had taken a camera with me. The sight of these shipmates helping each other out just made me really proud of my guys and reminded me how blessed I am to be part of the Mighty MSP.

I was really pleased to see a couple of my Divo's there, too. I never said a word to them about it before hand, so they showed up on their own initiative. The DCA and the EA each had a guy who didn't do so well last week, and both are super-stud PT guys and good runners. It was great to see them out there running with their guys, too.

In the end, three of the six guys who didn't do so well last week actually passed today with the encouragement of their shipmates. Although the other three guys didn't pass, I was there running with them to the finish line, and I'm proud of them for not giving up. They pushed it all the way through to the end.

Good job, guys! I'm proud of you!