Photo By Chief Petty Officer Spencer Fling | Information Systems Technician 1st Class Dan Petrillo, a recruit division commander,...... read more read more
Subscribe
Meet IT1 Dan Petrillo!
Petty Officer Petrillo is an Information Systems Technician (IT) currently working as a recruit division commander (RDC) at Recruit Training Command (RTC).
He grew up on Chincoteague Island in Virginia, a tourist town famous for its Chincoteague wild ponies. While he loves the island life, he didn’t want it to be the only place he experienced. Petrillo said he felt the call to serve his country and be part of something bigger than himself.
“When it came time to pick how to serve, my family being in the Navy was a big influence and growing up on the island, I loved being in the water and around water. Which is a little contradictory looking back because I’ve never been stationed on a ship.”
Petrillo’s career path prior to RTC was primarily within the special warfare community. He served as an individual augmentee for a year with Joint Information Support Task Force Special Operations out of Qatar. Additionally, he did two deployments with Seal Team 4 and another with Seal Team 2.
“I did a lot of things for them like working on radios, datalinks, networking, some UAVs. Anything with comms, and comms is a loose term to those guys. Basically, anything they used that plugged in or had a battery I was responsible for.”
Petrillo attempted to stay within the special warfare community for a third consecutive sea tour, but was told that it was time to go to a shore command. He sought out the most challenging shore tour in his mind, RTC.
“You always hear the saying that RDCs are the top 10% of the Navy, I wanted to give it a shot and see if I had what it takes.”
Petrillo says that his favorite thing to do is to help people and he feels that what he does as an RDC is not only helping people, but changing their lives.
“Being an RDC is so rewarding. When you’re actually out pushing divisions, you really get to see that transition and metamorphosis. I try to train my recruits so that they are better than me. When they get out there, they don’t have to worry about making it and the people they work for don’t have to worry about them.”
Petrillo says that he his time at RTC has taught him lessons that he will carry forward both personally and professionally.
“Everyone here likes to say ‘get motivated’ and motivation is a great tool, but this place teaches you more than motivation, it teaches you the meaning of dedication. Dedication is what gets you in the morning on the days you don’t feel like it and pushes you to do the things your body and mind don’t want to do.”
As with most things around the world, the pandemic changed Petrillo’s time at RTC. Due loss of civilian staffing and COVID restrictions, Petrillo was pushed into being the command’s point man in a more tradition IT role.
“I graduated a division on Friday and Started working IT on Monday. I did everything computer and comms related for all RTC staff. I created accounts, serviced ISSM, managed TRANET accounts, and worked on the installation and design of CNO and CNP initiatives.”
Petrillo’s role was key in ensuring that he RTC staff members were able to maintain an operational posture during the pandemic. He embraced the role and says he grew from the experience.
“It was a little weird I had to come RTC to be an RDC and to end up being more of a traditional IT for the first time in my career.”
When he leaves RTC, Petrillo is slated to go to Fort Bragg as part of Joint Communications Unit.
When not in uniform, Petrillo tries to spend as much time as possible with his wife and 2-year-old daughter. When not under COVID restrictions, he tries to be outside as much as possible doing things like riding bikes, rock climbing and kayaking.
Hooyah, IT1!
| Date Taken: | 04.20.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 04.21.2021 12:06 |
| Story ID: | 394348 |
| Location: | GREAT LAKES, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 417 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, RTC Staff in the Spotlight: IT1 Dan Petrillo, by CPO Spencer Fling, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
na
