ST. LOUIS – Sixty Future Sailors from the local St. Louis area took the oath of enlistment at Busch Stadium, Aug. 25, 2021.
This group of Future Sailors is known as the “Cardinal Company” and has been a long-standing tradition in St. Louis. Cardinal Company received its moniker after the St. Louis Cardinals, who together with Navy Talent Acquisition Group (NTAG) Mid America and the St. Louis Navy League, have sponsored the group annually since 1958.
To kick off the day’s events, the Future Sailors assembled in front of NTAG Mid America headquarters, with NTAG Mid America personnel and color guard, to march through the streets of St. Louis to Busch Stadium. Once everyone made it through stadium security, they headed to their designated positions to conduct the swear-in ceremony.
Administering the oath of enlistment in front of home plate was Rear Adm. Brian Corey, Program Executive Officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons.
“It is a pleasure to be back in St. Louis,” said Corey, who grew up in Granite City, Ill., just a few miles northeast of Busch Stadium. “It is an honor to swear in these Future Sailors and I wish them the best of luck and smooth sailing as they become members of the world’s finest Navy.”
After Corey enlisted the Cardinal Company into the Navy, NTAG Mid America personnel lined the outer edge of the field and observed the national anthem with NTAG Mid America’s color guard. Once the national anthem was complete, Corey stepped onto the pitcher’s mound and threw the ceremonial first pitch prior to the St. Louis Cardinals versus Detroit Tigers game.
Normally, the Cardinal Company would ship out to Recruit Training Command (RTC) after the baseball game and complete Navy boot camp as a recruit division. However, since there are still COVID-19 constraints and mitigations in place, NTAG Mid America felt it would be best not to ship a large group of Future Sailors at one time. So, the command chose to have one group of Future Sailors swear-in on the field – Cardinal Company – and a sponsored recruit division at boot camp – Cardinal Division.
In order to keep the Cardinal Company/Division legacy alive, and with a seamless transition, Cardinal Company turned over the Cardinal Division pennant they marched with to the two recruit division commanders charged with leading the division – Chief Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) Ricardo Rodriguez and Operations Specialist 1st Class Gabriel Doby.
Rodriguez and Doby were ecstatic when they received word that they would be leading this year’s Cardinal Division.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to get to experience something as important as Cardinal Company,” said Doby. “As soon as chief and I found out we would be pushing Cardinal Division and going down to St. Louis to be part of Cardinal Company, we basically hopped in our cars and started driving.”
Traditionally, Cardinal Company is composed entirely of men since they go through boot camp together. But, since the Cardinal Company is not shipping out to RTC, for the first time in 63 years, the company was able to be comprised of both men and women.
“I think it’s great that Cardinal Company is able to be a more diverse group of Future Sailors,” said Chief Navy Counselor Daniel Hearn, onboarding director of NTAG Mid America. “Even though Cardinal Division will be an all-male division, it’s important to recognize the women today who contributed to the Cardinal Company and Cardinal Division legacy.”
In fact, since there was no swear-in ceremony last year due to the pandemic, NTAG Mid America saw fit to sponsor an all-female division as the 62nd Annual Recruit Cardinal Division. The group of women performed extremely well, graduating towards the top of their training group, and were led by two St. Louis-native RDCs.
This year’s Cardinal Division can expect to first go through a militarization phase, where they are introduced to military bearing, drill, and inspections. They will also take basic classes related to getting ready for operating out in the fleet.
The next phase the division will go through is Sailorization, where they will learn the bread-and-butter skills necessary for that of an enlisted Sailor. These include skills such as firefighting, line handling and weapons familiarity.
Finally, the last week of boot camp will include their final evaluation phase, official physical fitness assessment, final inspections preparing for review and graduation, and the final crucible event – Battle Stations, where they will hopefully earn the right to be called U.S. Navy Sailors.
Cardinal Division is the Navy’s longest-running special recruit division, with this year’s 63rd Annual Recruit Cardinal Division scheduled to graduate on Oct. 29, 2021.
NTAG Mid America, part of Navy Recruiting Command, recruits the next generation of Navy Sailors throughout areas encompassing Missouri, Kansas, central and southern Illinois, and a portion of Kentucky.
| Date Taken: | 08.25.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 08.25.2021 14:33 |
| Story ID: | 403900 |
| Location: | ST. LOUIS, MO, US |
| Web Views: | 263 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Cardinal Company and Cardinal Division – Keeping St. Louis Legacy Alive, by PO1 Chris Williamson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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