Camp Smith Volunteers Help Beautify Park

August 18, 2023

On August 18, 2023, future Chief Petty Officers from Camp Smith (U.S. Indo-Pacific Command) participated in a variety of volunteer activities to maintain and beautify the park. The Camp Smith team helped with repainting the parking lot, washing down sidewalks, and window cleaning. This service project was part of Camp Smith’s initiation of new officers which included indoctrination activities and ceremonies held later in September at the park.

These events represent the culmination of months of training and development for the U.S. Navy’s newest senior enlisted leaders, who were subsequently promoted to the rank of Chief Petty Officer. Ke’ehi Lagoon Memorial State Park provided the perfect setting for the future officers to internally commemorate their advancement achievement, reflecting on the purpose of their service and the new roles they were about to assume. Chief Shannon Smith, spokesperson for Camp Smith said, “Our time together at the park helped build meaning, significance, and critical camaraderie as we prepare to deploy and sail around the world.”

No other armed force has a rank equivalent to that of “the Chief” in the U.S. Navy, which is why the initiation process and ceremony is taken so seriously. As Chief Smith explained,”The Navy is unique in that it confers much more authority and responsibility on the Chief, while demanding more performance and results than any of the other services. The Chief is required to be a fountain of wisdom, the ambassador of good will, and the authority on personal relations, as well as the technical expert in our jobs.”

Ke’ehi Memorial Organization supports the new Chief Petty Officers of Camp Smith as part of it’s mission to make the park a Living Memorial. We salute these U.S. Navy sailors for perpetuating the legacy of our nations’s veterans through their own service as the Next Generation.