Chowdah Hill

09/18/2026

NSA Mid-South took on 37 new Chief Petty Officers yesterday. I shared that the reason young Sailors are doing so well across the fleet—even in some pretty arduous situations—is because of a few thousand Chief Petty Officers who make it so. This is the way.

09/09/2026

Met with my PERS-46 team today. What do they do? Per them, “We write orders to man the fleet with warfighters.” They also said, “We’re always hiring… as long as there’s funding!”

08/27/2026

08/25/2026

I was recently reminded of a fellow aviator and friend named Chud. We served in two different squadrons together and stayed in touch for a couple decades. He was loud, passionate, and a great leader. Unfortunately, he passed away a few years ago, but left behind an incredible legacy — his amazing family.

One of his sons, Justin, was recently winged as a naval flight officer and is about to start training in the FA-18.

So I asked Justin why he joined the Navy. He said, “I would say the main reason why I joined the navy is to travel around the world and be able to have those unique experiences of port calls, boat life, and just overall having a high adrenaline job that no other occupation could give me. I always loved hearing the stories from my dad about port calls and how close everyone was and how close to each other they were in the squadrons. I know navy living has a lot of tough moments, but I want to be able to have similar experiences and relationships so that I can share exciting stories to my kids.”

And another reason I stay Navy…

08/23/2026

A U.S. Sailor monitors flight operations aboard USS John Finn (DDG 113) as the guided-missile destroyer sails in the Arabian Sea and enforces the U.S. blockade against Iran. As of Aug. 23, U.S. forces have redirected 70 commercial vessels, disabled 3 and boarded 2 to ensure compliance.

08/23/2026

Why I stay Navy…

Naval Aviation culture is built on the shoulders of men like Royce Williams. What a real honor it was to actually meet him. Super humble guy too!

Retired Navy Captain Royce Williams received the Medal of Honor on 24 Feb 2026 for a historic 1952 Korean War dogfight. Flying the F9F Panther, then-Lieutenant Williams engaged seven Soviet MiG-15s, shooting down four despite taking 263 hits to his own plane. The mission was classified for 50 years.

08/22/2026

More reasons I stay Navy.

On the stage at Tailhook: a lineup of aviators just back from USS Gerald R. Ford deployment. Eleven months. Multiple theaters. They dominated over and over and logged something like 57,000 miles at sea.

And when they talked about it, it was like any other day... and they did it with extreme humility.

So the next time someone wants to complain about the “youth of our day” — we’re going to have to have a talk.

This is my family.

08/20/2026

Catching up with shipmates from the IKE 2023-2024 epic deployment… here at Tailhook. People wonder why I want to stay Navy. It’s because of these people.

05/17/2026

On behalf of Tufts University Class of 1996, congrats to our newest college graduates and our nation’s newest 2nd Lieutenants!

05/13/2026

Day 3: The day started with a donut and coffee from the OG. A spirited discussion with hundreds of students from my alma mater North Quincy High School — notably 13 kids are enlisting this year and another is going to West Point. And then a trip to Quincy’s Navy Reserve Center to honor those Sailors working full time to support reservists in the area and to keep them mobilization ready for when they’re needed!

P.S. The students at NQHS celebrated Taco Tuesday with tacos and cookies.