What's the history behind a chief's hat box?

Since before WWII... the combination cover has been the distinguishing symbol of the Chief Petty Officer! Way back then, when a Sailor was promoted to CPO, they only changed thier hat! They still wore the blue dungarees (watch and old WWII movie and you will see)... So, the Combination Cover is the MOST CHERISHED posession!!! During initiation CPO selectees would be charged with making an appropriate container for this ICON of making CPO!

Although I haven't seen it done in almost 10 years now...

My father in law had his hat bronzed, and carries it with him in his motorhome when he travels. I have my hat box, and keep my hat in it every night!

Cherish it!!!

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I don't have the time to look it all up right now but it's part of the chief's indoc process. My husband made his with his team of selectees and they were all made the same. It stands for teamwork, and all those other traits emphasized in indoc. It's also a box that makes you proud to display your hat it. A box you made and decorated with your team at some ungodly hour of the day while being exhausted. It's something that as a family member you should cherish as your gradfather did.

Chiefs are senior enlisted Sailors. They have more room for storage than junior enlisted Sailors, but don't have big private staterooms with lots of storage like a senior Officer. But they do wear combination covers that can get crushed in a coffin rack or locker if kept in a regular cardboard hat box. So a study box is used. And sometimes those boxes are very fancy. It's like scrimshaw. It's decorated out of tradition and for personalization.

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Well, there used to live this Panda by the name of Dora... One winter, Dora the Panda stockpiled loads of food into a huge metal box nearby the forest she lived in and as the winter got harsher than it has ever been since the dawn of time, Dora entered the box herself and was accidentally trapped inside till this day. Myth has it that depending on a person's scent and swagger, the opener has a 50-50 chance of either being eaten by a prehistoric Panda or be magically blessed by the gratitude of Dora upon opening Pandora's box. While Pandas are natives of China and this legend had its roots traced back to ancient Greece, neither origin seems real as strong rumors suggest that Pandora's Box is actually stored in secrecy together with the top secret KFC's Original Recipe as a safety precaution against having a Giant Panda terrorizing the world.

Cheif Hat

It's part of the Chief Petty Officer's initiation. You have to make it yourself, amongst 10,000 other tasks.

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It all started when our adventure-loving...adventurer, Jacob, woke up in a disease-infested jungle. It was the second time it had happened. Feeling excessively angered, Jacob punched a potato, thinking it would make him feel better (but as usual, it did not). A few freaknasty minutes later, he realized that his beloved hat was missing! Immediately he called his so-called friend, Lobster. Jacob had known Lobster for (plus or minus) half a million years, the majority of which were enticing ones. Lobster was unique. He was intelligent though sometimes a little... funny-smelling. Jacob called him anyway, for the situation was urgent.

Lobster picked up to a very glad Jacob. Lobster calmly assured him that most albino cats grimace before mating, yet venomous koalas usually surreptitiously panic *after* mating. He had no idea what that meant; he was only concerned with distracting Jacob. Why was Lobster trying to distract Jacob? Because he had snuck out from Jacob's with the hat only three days prior. It was a enchanting little hat... how could he resist?

It didn't take long before Jacob got back to the subject at hand: his hat. Lobster yawned. Relunctantly, Lobster invited him over, assuring him they'd find the hat. Jacob grabbed his rhinocerus and disembarked immediately. After hanging up the phone, Lobster realized that he was in trouble. He had to find a place to hide the hat and he had to do it carefully. He figured that if Jacob took the Jap Trap, he had take at least eight minutes before Jacob would get there. But if he took the Car? Then Lobster would be alarmingly screwed.

Before he could come up with any reasonable ideas, Lobster was interrupted by four selfish pigs that were lured by his hat. Lobster panicked; 'Not again', he thought. Feeling exasperated, he recklessly reached for his carrot and deftly punched every last one of them. Apparently this was an adequate deterrent--the discouraged critters began to scurry back toward the imaginery desert, squealing with discontent. He exhaled with relief. That's when he heard the Car rolling up. It was Jacob.

----o0o----

As he pulled up, he felt a sense of urgency. He had had to make an unscheduled stop at Sears to pick up a 12-pack of potatos, so he knew he was running late. With a hasty leap, Jacob was out of the Car and went charismatically jaunting toward Lobster's front door. Meanwhile inside, Lobster was panicking. Not thinking, he tossed the hat into a box of carrots and then slid the box behind his refrigerator. Lobster was worried but at least the hat was concealed. The doorbell rang.

'Come in,' Lobster surreptitiously purred. With a apt push, Jacob opened the door. 'Sorry for being late, but I was being chased by some funny-smelling rationality-deprived retard in a magic flying carpet,' he lied. 'It's fine,' Lobster assured him. Jacob took a seat excruciatingly close to where Lobster had hidden the hat. Lobster turned red trying unsuccessfully to hide his nervousness. 'Uhh, can I get you anything?' he blurted. But Jacob was distracted. Unaware of the bleakness of existence, Lobster noticed a selfish look on Jacob's face. Jacob slowly opened his mouth to speak.

'...What's that smell?'

Lobster felt a stabbing pain in his double chin when Jacob asked this. In a moment of disbelief, he realized that he had hidden the hat right by his oscillating fan. 'Wh-what? I don't smell anything..!' A lie. A funny-smelling look started to form on Jacob's face. He turned to notice a box that seemed clearly out of place. 'Th-th-those are just my grandma's dull pencils from when she used to have pet man-eating capybaras. She, uh...dropped 'em by here earlier'. Jacob nodded with fake acknowledgement...then, before Lobster could react, Jacob aptly lunged toward the box and opened it. The hat was plainly in view.

Jacob stared at Lobster for what what must've been eleven nanoseconds. Absolutely thrilled, Lobster groped charismatically in Jacob's direction, clearly desperate. Jacob grabbed the hat and bolted for the door. It was locked. Lobster let out a enticing chuckle. 'If only you hadn't been so protective of that thing, none of this would have happened, Jacob,' he rebuked. Lobster always had been a little insensitive, so Jacob knew that reconciliation was not an option; he needed to escape before Lobster did something crazy, like... start chucking ripened avocados at him or something. Unaware of the bleakness of existence, he gripped his hat tightly and made a dash toward the window, diving headlong through the glass panels.

Lobster looked on, blankly. 'What the hell? That seemed excessive. The other door was open, you know.' Silence from Jacob. 'And to think, I varnished that window frame five days ago...it never ends!' Suddenly he felt a tinge of concern for Jacob. 'Oh. You ..okay?' Still silence. Lobster walked over to the window and looked down. Jacob was gone.

----o0o----