Tucson Sailor Sweats Goal to be a Navy Recruiter

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class John Paul Curtis | Logistics Specialist 2nd Class David Gritis, a recruiter assigned to Navy Talent Acquisition Group Phoenix, is featured as Recruiter in the Spotlight.  

PHOENIX, AZ, UNITED STATES

11.23.2021

Courtesy Story

Commander, Navy Recruiting Command

TUCSON, Ariz. - Goals are a constant and critical tool for a Navy talent scout (recruiter). Every recruiter has a goal that supports the overall goal for Navy Recruiting Command to man the fleet. Logistics Specialist 2nd Class David Gritis made his goal to become a Navy recruiter.

Gritis is a 31-year-old Tucson native and enlisted in the Navy Reserves nine years ago. He has been assigned to Naval Support Activity Bahrain, Fleet Logistics Center Sigonella, and as an individual augmentee assigned to U.S. Forces Afghanistan.

After returning from his most recent assignment to Afghanistan, Gritis said he was tired of going from Reserve to active and wanted to be on active duty full time.

“Everything I’ve done in the Navy has been a really great experience, and I’ve met a lot of great people in the Navy,” Gritis said. “In the civilian world, it can be tough. There is no camaraderie, and the teamwork is driven by money, so I said I’m done with the back and forth and want to be full-time Navy.”

One way Gritis found that he can be on active duty was to take on an assignment as a recruiter. As an introvert, he said he wanted to be a recruiter because he wanted to challenge himself.

“I’m not comfortable talking with people,” Gritis said. “I thought this would be a good way to get out of my comfort zone, do some personal growth and really challenge myself.”

After thinking about it, Gritis really wanted to be a recruiter, but he ran into an issue while trying to get picked up for recruiting duty.

After a few months of not hearing anything, a chief at the command called Gritis and told him the reason why he had not been picked up for recruiting was because he was out of body weight standards.

“That was a shock,” Gritis said. “I had never had issues with body weight before. I may have not been super thin or super fit, but I’ve always been in shape. I definitely had a pretty good gut at that time and I was told if I could get down to a 37-inch waist measurement, then I could be a recruiter.”

In April 2020, with a 44-inch waist measurement, Gritis immediately started working out harder, but he knew his diet was the most important thing to fix. The next month, May 2020, Gritis had lost two inches off his waist, and by the time August 2020 came around, he officially had a 37-inch waist measurement.

“The biggest thing is that I had a goal and tangible number to work super furiously at,” Gritis said. “I cleaned up my diet and did some high intensity cardio and my regular weight routine. That’s what got me there. Having that tangible goal of 37 inches and being able to track that every week was a huge [motivating] factor for me. It was awesome to see [numbers on the measuring tape] go down every week.”

During this period, Gritis’ weight started at 240 pounds and went down to 225 pounds.

“I didn’t lose as much weight because I was building back my muscles so quickly," Gritis said. "I lost more in inches around the middle than I did in weight.”

Gritis credits a 16-hour fasting schedule more than the actual dieting for the inches he lost, but he still ate a clean diet.

For his high-intensity cardio, he attached 45 pounds of weight and climbed a stair machine for 20 minutes.

“I would just sweat. I would put on a show and just hammer [the exercise] out,” Gritis said. “I was just maximizing my time.”

Assigned to Navy Talent Acquisition Group (NTAG) Phoenix’s mission park recruiting office in his hometown of Tucson, Gritis is now one of the top recruiters at NTAG Phoenix. Along with doing extremely well in recruiting, he is also an assistant command fitness leader helping other Sailors and future Sailors meet their fitness goals.

• Date Taken: 11.23.2021
• Date Posted: 11.23.2021 10:51
• Story ID: 409897
• Location: PHOENIX, AZ, US