Photo By Seaman Zachariah L Grabill | Norfolk, Va (September 24, 2018) Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Shayn Gillespie a...... read more read more
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If you would walk into any elementary school across the country and ask the students what they want to be when they grow up, you would get an array of answers including everything from professional athlete to astronaut.
For Harrisburg, Pennsylvania native, Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Shayn Gillespie the answer to that question has been the same since boyhood, he’s always wanted to be a police officer and performing his duties in the Navy helped pave the way to ensure he can do just that.
Gillespie arrived at the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) as a Professional Apprenticeship Career Track Sailor, which means he didn’t have a specific rating or job title when he first came onboard. He was able to do hands-on research on rates available in the Navy and then choose a permanent job after.
“I like to work with weapons so Aviation Ordnanceman was an easy choice for me,” said Gillespie Aviation Ordnanceman are responsible for assembling bombs aboard the ship, Gillespie worked with his division for one year before turning his focus on what he really wanted to do in and outside the Navy; being a police officer. trying changing his mind to wanting to work with
He worked with his chain of command to change departments and work with the the Navy’s military police, the Master-at-Arms (MAA), The MAAs were low on personnel and needed some help from a motivated Sailor, which exactly who Gillespie is.
Workings with the MAAs broaden his security knowledge and changed the way he views world around him, everything is from a force protection point of view. He explained that when he goes to the movies instead of randomly choosing a seat, he now looks at possible threats and chooses a seat based on getting out of the room quickly and effectively.
“In a sense working with the MAA’s has helped me with my goal of becoming a police officer,” said Gillespie. “I have much more of a law enforcement type mind set now, which has helped me navigate my way to become a police officer.”
He likes to interact with people, solve problems and help protect his ship and shipmates, hitting all the wickets that make a great police officer.
“I want to be a police officer because I like the work they do,” says Gillespie. “I had a taste of it on Bataan and it has made me want to do it even more on the civilian side.”
When Gillespie put in his application with the Norfolk Police Department, he says they contacted him the next day and asked him if he was available for his physical test the following weekend, which he was and ended up scoring 100 on his physical assessment.
“I took my academic exam the following weekend and scored in the 90 percentile, so I crushed that one as well,” says Gillespie.
After doing so well on both assessments Gillespie was offered an interview with an investigator from Norfolk Police Department, and he says that his investigator really liked what he saw in him.
The next step of the process is to take an intense oral board with two Lieutenants and a Captain. Which Gillespie is sure he can handle from all the training he’s had while in the Navy and onboard the Bataan.
“The following day after my oral board, I’ll find out if I’ll be a pre-hire, which is only for the most elite applicants. It’s when they hire you before the academy so you have an obligation to work for Norfolk, instead of going to another department,’ says Gillespie.
If selected as a pre-hire, in November he’ll begin working full-time for the police department doing miscellaneous police work until he heads to the academy in January 2019.
| Date Taken: | 10.07.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 10.07.2018 12:48 |
| Story ID: | 295660 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 64 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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