She’s following in her mom’s footsteps!
A mom and her daughter got the opportunity to serve on the same U.S. Navy ship together, Good Morning America reports.
Racquel McCray was born with two Navy parents, watching both her mom and dad serve day in, and day out. When she turned 18, she decided to follow in their footsteps. This past May, Racquel joined the Navy and enrolled in the same logistics specialty as her mom. When she discovered she could get the chance to watch her mother, Tonya McCray, she jumped on the opportunity.
“I chose to join because I watched my parents for my entire life. They both served, so watching them every day go to work made me actually want to follow in their footsteps, with how successful they were and what they were able to provide for my sister and I,” Racquel told reporters.
At first, Tonya admits she didn’t take her daughter seriously when she said she wanted to join the Navy. But once she saw how dedicated she was, she supported her.
“I was a proud mother. It took a while for her to get everything situated to come in, but that was my baby, and I was so proud,” Tonya said.
Once Racquel enlisted, she wanted to learn more about her mother’s job firsthand.
“I shared some pictures with her, and I talked about the experience, and she told me that was why she wanted to join the military — to be able to participate in things like that. I talked to my chain of command, she talked to her chain of command, and we thought it could be used as a training opportunity,” Tonya recalled.
Once the mother-daughter duo got clearance, Racquel was assigned to her mother’s ship, the USS Gerald R. Ford, getting the unique opportunity to serve alongside her mom.
USS Gerald R. Ford (Atlantic Ocean, March 20, 2021). Photo Courtesy of Riley Mcdowell/U.S. Navy“I was able to share what I did with my daughter every day. She saw what respect that someone of my pay grade gets on a day to day, how they look up to me, and it just felt great to be able to share that experience with her, and also, just to see her hard work,” Tonya said.
The assignment only lasted a short time, and Racquel wishes she could spend more time with her mom, but she said the experience was invaluable.
“It was a great experience for me, even though it only lasted four weeks. I would have liked for it to be a little bit longer, but it was really nice to be able to see the benefits of all of [my mom’s] hard work,” Racquel said.
Congratulations, ladies! Thank you for your service.
Photo Courtesy of Gary Prill/U.S. Navy