Wisconsin educators visit Recruit Training Command

Photo By Scott Thornbloom | Rear Adm. Rich Brown, commander, Naval Service Training Command (NSTC), speaks to Wisconsin and Illinois middle and high school educators at Recruit Training Command (RTC), the Navy's only boot camp, July 24. The educators toured training facilities at RTC and Training Support Center (TSC) to see how civilians become Sailors and then acquire a job rating at one of the many schools at TSC. (U.S. Navy photo by Scott A. Thornbloom/released)  

GREAT LAKES, IL, UNITED STATES

07.24.2014

Courtesy Story

U.S. Navy           

By Michael F. Miller
Naval Service Training Command Public Affairs

GREAT LAKES, Ill. - Educators from Wisconsin visited Recruit Training Command on two separate occasions as part of an Educator Orientation Visit, July 10 and 24.

More than 50 educators from the Milwaukee and Madison areas of Wisconsin spent a day touring the Navy's only bootcamp and the opportunity to see how today's Navy recruits train and live. They were welcomed by Rear Adm. Rich Brown, commander, Naval Service Training Command, who oversees RTC.

"I thank you for what you do every day," said Brown. "Coming from a family of teachers, I understand that development of our youth is all about education. If it wasn't for you and the foundations you build every day, we wouldn't have a Navy."

The educators are part of a graduate course through the Institute for Graduate Studies (IGS) offered through Silver Lake College in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The graduate instructor and group leader, Juany Dahlen, has been bringing educators each summer to Naval Station Great Lakes since 2005.

"This has always been a highlight of my summer as I appreciate each thing the men and women in uniform do for us every day," said Dahlen. "RTC does a wonderful job hosting us and showing how a civilian is transformed into a U.S. Sailor."

EOVs allow selected educators to tour various Navy installations and commands in order to gain a better understanding of training methodologies and opportunities in the Navy.

While aboard RTC the educators visited one of the most distinctive structures, as well as the Navy's largest training simulator, USS Trayer (BST-21).

The educators also toured in-processing, the pool, fitness facility, marksmanship trainer and one of the 13 recruit ships, or barracks. While inside the recruit barracks, they saw how each is set up like a ship with galleys, classrooms, berthing compartments and offices.

"This was an amazing trip and a whole new world that I am not familiar with," said Darlene Gallman, an educator from Evansville, Wisconsin. "I really enjoyed seeing that fire-fighting training as my husband is a volunteer firefighter. What really impressed me though was the Admiral giving us accolades for what we do.That was awesome."

RTC is primarily responsible for conducting the initial Navy orientation and training of new recruits. The command is commonly referred to as "boot camp" or "recruit training."

Boot camp is approximately eight weeks, and all enlistees into the United States Navy begin their careers at the command. Training includes physical fitness, seamanship, firearms familiarization, firefighting and shipboard damage control, lessons in Navy heritage and core values, teamwork and discipline. Since the closure of RTCs in Orlando and San Diego in 1994, RTC Great Lakes is, today, the Navy's only basic training location, and is known as "The Quarterdeck of the Navy."

Today, approximately 34,000 recruits graduate annually from RTC and begin their Navy careers.

NSTC oversees 98 percent of initial officer and enlisted accessions training for the Navy, as well as the Navy's Citizenship Development program. NSTC includes Recruit Training Command, the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) at more than 160 colleges and universities, Officer Training Command Newport, and Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) and Navy National Defense Cadet Corps (NNDCC) citizenship development programs at more than 600 high schools worldwide.

For more news and information about RTC, visit http://www.bootcamp.navy.mil/ or find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NavyRecruitTrainingCommand/.
For more information about NSTC, visit http://www.netc.navy.mil/nstc/ or visit the NSTC Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/NavalServiceTraining/.

For more news from Naval Service Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/greatlakes/.

• Date Taken: 07.24.2014
• Date Posted: 07.25.2014 17:25
• Story ID: 137357
• Location: GREAT LAKES, IL, US
• Hometown: EVANSVILLE, WI, US