Mother and daughter serve side by side on Navy ship

Racquel McCray and her mother, Tonya McCray, formed an even closer bond while spending four weeks working alongside one another on board the Navy's USS Gerald R. Ford.

Both of Racquel's parents are in the Navy, but she told Good Morning America they never pressured her to enlist. "I chose to join because I watched my parents for my entire life," she said. "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 was interested in pursuing the same logistics specialty as Tonya, and both spoke with their chain of command to see if Racquel could join Tonya on the Gerald R. Ford. "We thought it could be used as a training opportunity," Tonya said. The request was approved in May, and Tonya spent a month showing Racquel the ropes.

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"I was able to share what I did with my daughter every day," Tonya told GMA. "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." Racquel said the "great experience" she had on the ship made it clear she chose the right specialty, and "it was really nice to be able to see the benefits of all of [my mom's] hard work, how people looked up to her and respected her."