04/29/2021
Well folks! The day I've been waiting on for a long time finally arrived!! On April 15th, 2021 I was facetimed by my chain of command who then had me facetime Admiral Bayungan- the Commodore of Region West... the Commodore let me know he selected me as the RESFOR MAP (meritorious advancement) to e-6! I honestly did not think this would be possible as I'm on a weird/new recruiting program that to my command's knowledge, no one had ever been MAP'd on, so that's pretty dang cool! Looks like I might just be the first Definite Recall to be MAP'd in Naval history! I cannot thank my command enough for not giving up on advancing me when it didn't seem possible for my program. Very thankful for this moment! My pinning was the past Monday, thank you to all of my close friends who came to support me ๐
I chose two very important people to pin me, my significant other Jeremiah, and my Chief
Jeremiah, thank you for standing by me and supporting me through all the late night/early morning medreads, calling me on my late night interviews 3hrs away to make sure I wasn't dead in a ditch or kidnapped, date nights I had to bail on thinking I'd be off by then, constant phone calls with my applicants on weekends/evenings, and I know it's annoying when I try to recruit everytime we go out to eat ๐
thank you for understanding that my job doesn't ever "turn off".
Heather, thank you for being the best role model I've ever had in the Navy. You are the leader I strive to be like one day. Thank you for noticing when my mental/physical health wasn't doing so well, for taking over a few legal/medical waivers when my plate was over flowing so much I was ripping my hair out (figuratively of course), for guiding me through personal and professional road bumps, for caring for me as a sailor and as a friend. You mean the world to me Chief, you helped mold me into the MA1 I am today. The Navy needs about 5,000 more chiefs like you.
There are so many others I could thank however, the post would never end. You all know who you are ๐
It feels so good to say, MA1 Lowe ๐๐ฎ๐ผโโ๏ธ๐โ