Chief Cryptologic Technician (Collection) (SW/AW) (sel) Joe Lemanek recently joined the ranks of chief petty officer at just 24 years, eight months of age.

Lemanek, assigned to Navy Information Operations Command at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, has been in the Navy for five years and five months.

“I feel there is always room to improve and that you cannot possibly be prepared for everything you will encounter,” said Lemanek said of his relatively short time in the service. “I’ve seen and done a lot in my short time in, but the biggest thing that helped me is that I’ve always learned something wherever I went and I’ve always succeeded because of the teams that have supported me.”

His mother, Laura, 48, a reservist with 19 years combined active and reservist service, currently on a one-month activation to Chinhae, Korea, was also selected to become a chief boatswain’s mate for this cycle. Mom and son have spoken on several occasions about their selections.

“She’s (mother) obviously very proud and a little worried,” said Lemanek. “She made sure to point out that she will always be my senior no matter where my career takes me.”

“When he told me he made board I was excited, but also knew that with him being in under six years that the odds were going to be against him,” said Laura. “When he told me he was selected, it was one of those ‘are you kidding me’ moments, and then I told him how proud I was of him and how excited I was for him. We laughed together, talked about his brothers. We are very supportive of each other.”

Lemanek joined the Navy in 2002 as an E-2, was selected for accelerated advancement out of A-school and was frocked to E-4 in May of 2003. He made it to the rank of E-5 as soon as he was eligible and followed it up with early promotes on his evaluations, which allowed him to take both his E-6 and chief tests a year early. He made each of those on the first try. On the chief’s board he was the last of 51 to be selected for advancement

“I’m absolutely stoked,” Lemanek said. “I have a lot to learn, but I hope I have a lot to offer to the Navy and Chief’s Mess.”

Chief inductions are a deep-rooted, traditional six-week long conversion of Sailors selected to become the Navy’s future leaders. “We’re training them to be our replacements,” said NAS Whidbey Island Command Master Chief (AW/SW) Francis Bagarella. “They’ve had grooming earlier in their careers from their leaders and we’re just putting on the finishing touches.”