This is the place where you will find everything from helpful advice, to observations, to Bravo Zulu's from our Chief Petty Officer. A great leadership mentor, he brings a lot of experience to the table. Check back regularly for new updates to the page!  

Have a question you'd like to ask the Chief, use the form below. Please give 24 to 48 hours for a response. 

USNSCC
CHIEF PETTY OFFICER
​RYAN M PARKER

In December 2021, I went to Chief Petty Officer Academy in Jacksonville, Florida. I learned a lot from that training but there was one quote that stuck out to me that I read about at the training. This quote is "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." This quote was said by General Colin Powell. One of the most influential leaders known to the United States. This quote stuck with me because people think that there are secrets to success, and that there is a way to be successful without doing anything. In order to be successful there are going to be times when you are going to fail. But, in order to be successful it depends on how you take that information. There are 2 ways people will take it, they will let it defeat them and slowly bring them down and then there are others that will take it like criticism and use it to get better. It is going to take a lot of effort and hardwork if you want to achieve your goal. On that note, my football coach talked about resiliency. I mention that as well because the textbook definition of resiliency is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. This definition accounts to being a good leader and successful in life. As a leader, you have to be able to bounce back from problems and face adversity. That is the same thing with being successful. You are going to have some setbacks but it all depends on how you bounce back from it. 

​To start off our October drill weekend, we did some indoor rock climbing and as well an obstacle course dealing with heights. Some of our cadets are afraid of heights. Everyone was able to do it because their shipmates were there hyping them up. While we are on the topic of fear, my football coach said that you must be confident. Most people usually have a fear of failure, or the fear of the unknown. I say this because you can apply this to daily life. If you are afraid of failure, then you are going to get in that attitude of “I’m going to fail”. When you have an attitude like that, you are most likely going to fail.

Later in the day we did archery and we created costume using cardboard, tape, glitter wrapping paper and much more. That was so much fun, and everyone had a good time. We all used our minds and created our own little costume. There was a lot of laughing and smiles it was amazing to see everyone make their own costume. Later that night we took a hayride around the campground and when we got back, we made s’mores by the fire. It was great to see everyone bond together and laugh. Before we left, we made an obstacle course ad played a game of kickball. The best part of that training was the bonding between everyone.

I am so proud of all the cadets. They motivated their shipmate and reassured them that they were safe, and they were able to make it up there. Everyone believed in each other in all the activities that we did. It took a lot of courage for them to overpower some fears that they had. But courage is one of the sea cadets core values. They demonstrated that perfectly. Something to remember is that when you fail, do
not take it as a negative. Take it as a learning lesson to be able to better yourself. Another thing is that you will be afraid of failure many times when it comes to daily life so if you are able to overcome the fear of failing and be confident about what you do then you will succeed and have a better attitude on what you are trying to accomplish. 

USNSCC
CHIEF PETTY OFFICER
​RYAN M PARKER

Hello, I am Chief Petty Officer Ryan M Parker. I am 16 years old and have been in the USNSCC for almost 7 years. I am a junior at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Sterling Hts. I play football and basketball. Some hobbies I enjoy are hunting, hiking, working on cars and scuba diving. I want to go into the Navy as a Naval Diver(ND). I have a love for scuba diving because for me it is a place to relax like you can just get away from society and be with the fish and you can poke them and say "BOOP!" It is an amazing experience but I specifically want to do underwater welding since not a lot of people want to do it. Then, later on want to be a Recruit Division Commander(RDC) at Great Lakes National Recruiting Command. I like working on cars when I get the chance to because one day I want to end up taking a rusted piece of junk and turning it into a race car that I can race for money or just with friends. I like hunting as well because it is another way to get away from society and just relax and try to get some food.