Petty Officer 1st Class Juan Ithier to be an honorary chief petty officer
The Virginian-Pilot reports that Juan Ithier, who passed away in January will be posthumously named an honorary chief petty officer;
Petty Officer 1st Class Juan Ithier, 55, of Petersburg, spent 33 years in the Navy, according to a service biography. He enlisted in 1980 and spent four years on active duty before joining the reserves. Ithier was assigned to special warfare units from 1996 through 2011.
Chief Petty Officer Rich Gapski, who worked with Ithier for two decades, said Ithier medically retired in 2013 after having been diagnosed with cancer.
Ithier died Jan. 31.
Ithier was active in mentoring junior enlisted sailors and officers and helped train Colombian commandos who carried out 2008’s Operation Jaque, which rescued 15 hostages, including three American contractors, Gapski said. Ithier also worked as an interpreter, range safety officer and weapons instructor, Gapski said. Among many deployments, he served in Afghanistan in 2010.
V-P reminds us that only the master chief petty officer of the Navy can “authorize recognition of honorary chief petty officers”, in case anyone was wondering.
Thanks to Mick for the link.
Category: Navy
RIP, Chief.
That’s what a real hero looks like, not like the fakey-fake shitbags who puff up their chests and pretend.
RIP Sailor.
Rest In Peace, Chief.
Oh, so just anyone can’t declare themselves to be an Honorary Chief? Learn something everyday. /sarc
Salute Chief Ithier! RIP.
You know who ELSE……will likely be sitting in a jail cell in Virginia shortly and we should cut this out and put it in an envelope and mail it to him every day to see if we can break him.
Isn’t that particular disbarred never-was-never-will-be-a-CPO already broken, FUBARed to the nth?
I thought about that after I posted this and I thought, “You know, it would be a nice gift to him and maybe he won’t be so homesick knowing that people on the outside care about him.”
/sarc
We could always add a personal note, such as:
“This is what you will never be, and never could have been.”
According to the linked article from the Virginian-Pilot posted above, Chief Petty Officer Ithier ‘received several awards and decorations before retiring in 2013, including the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, the highest honor for noncombat service.’
‘for noncombat service’
Most are unaware that a lot of bullet launching related feats derring-do take place in certain areas on the Dark Side of Democracy (TM) and said feats are not eligible for ‘official’ awards of combat valor and/or proper recognition.
See: Honduras & Nicaragua in the 1980s, etc.
^^5
‘American contractors’…heh. They were a hell of a lot more than that.
And if the whole story is ever told in a book 20-30 years from now, our CPO (hon.) will be seen to be truly deserving of any/all honors and recognition.
SANV sends BZ, FW&FS, PO1 Ithier.
Rest in Peace, Chief. Fair winds and following seas.
RIP Chief Ithier.
Sometimes when I look at someone’s pic, I think, “Now there’s a guy I bet is [add bad thing here.]” Other times when I look at someone’s pic, I think, “He looks like a guy I’d love to have a beer with.” Chief Ithier is one of the latter. RIP, Chief.
Fair Winds and Following Seas Shipmate…I hope I get to read about the exploits that you were a part of one day.
The Navy and Marine Corps Medal is extremely difficult to earn. In my 23 years, I knew more Sailors and Marines with the Silver Star than with the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.
I would have been honored to drink beer/coffee with him in the Chief’s Mess while telling lies. A REAL honorary chief. RIP, Brother.
Oh, and you say the MCPON is the ONLY person who can bestow the status of Honorary Chief on a Sailor? Who knew?
RIP Chief
Welcome to the mess and RIP, Chief.
He seems to have earned it but is there a reason he did not achieve this while active? Is the obtaining of that rank as rife with politics as getting promoted past O-3 in the Army Reserves?
How common is this? Most likely pretty darn uncommon as it can only be done by MCPO of The Navy.
Also, what would a Petty Officer 1st Class teach Special Warfare Warriors?
‘Also, what would a Petty Officer 1st Class teach Special Warfare Warriors?’
Any # of skills, techniques, etc.
If you read the news report, he was a firearms/weapons instructor, among other things.
Interpreter.
JonP- – – US Special Forces spend thousands of hours each year teaching partner nations SF methods and tactics. GMC Ithier was a trained weapons and marksmanship instructor, range safety officer, as well as an interpreter. Foreign Internal Defense (FID) missions are not performed by a single person, they are done by a team of subject matter experts, of which he was one of them.
As for Juan not making Chief before, he was active for about 4 years before entering the reserves, and until 2007 when the rate was disbanded, he was a TM (Torpedoman’s Mate) – which has always been extremely hard to make Chief in the reserves. By the time he converted to GM, he had passed over High Year Tenure and was part of the Voluntary Training Unit. You will have to look up the VTU and FID to get more explanation of them.
I just stumbled across this site and can tell you first hand that I know no one more deserving of this honor.
respectfully,
ETC (EXW/FPJ) R. Gapski
Depending on your rate, making Chief in the reserves can a bitch.
The process is, have to be recommend for advancement on your evaluation (the easy part), pass the yearly advancement exam with a high enough score (not hard), then your package goes before the selection board (this is where it gets tough).
The board will have a quota for how many Chiefs to select.
In my case I was eligible to take the exam 7 times, made board all seven times, never selected.
In all seven years between 100 and 120 people made the selection board, yet only 2-5 each year were selected.
Tough odds.
Petty Officer Ithier must have been in a rate that was as tough or tougher than mine to advance.
Fair winds and following seas Chief.
I wonder if he was a BT. RIP Jefe.