I’ve been following Capt Chris “Chowdah” Hill, Commanding Officer of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower for several months. I say following because I stumbled on his Facebook and Instagram feed and was fascinated at the this very different leader. He was C.O. during Ike’s extended stay in the Red Sea and you probably saw something about that deployment at some point since October 7 on the evening news.
But beyond being a consummate warrior he is also one of the most innovative, engaged and inspiring leader I’ve seen in a long time. What you didn’t see on the news were the ongoing posts of his sailors excelling in their jobs, recognizing all kinds of achievements and something as simple as calling a sailor to the bridge every day, giving him or her a cookie and posting a photo for the folks back home to see. I’ve got 8 of these deployments under my belt and I’ve never seen a leader at the highest level as energetic and so willing to do to almost anything to sustain and improve the morale of his crew. One of the things that he had that hasn’t been necessarily true in the past is WiFi. That capability allowed all kinds of innovation (within the bounds of operational security) when communicating both internally and externally.
Ward Carroll is a retired Navy fighter pilot and has built quite a following and reputation on his YouTube channel. He covers all things military but specifically Naval Aviation. His latest program interviewing Chowdah is both informational and entertaining. The Navy and indeed the military needs more leaders like Capt. Hill and there is no doubt in my mind in the near future he will be pinning on stars.
It might be a bit of inside baseball, but if you have 40 minutes and an interest in both our Navy and leadership, this is well worth your time.