Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher OGrady | Boatswains Mate 1st Class Lee Schaperow poses for a portrait photo at Recruit Training...... read more read more
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Meet Boatswains Mate 1st Class Lee Schaperow! He is currently a water survival instructor at Recruit Training Command (RTC).
He is a crucial member of the recruit training command staff and mission of turning recruits into Sailors by training recruits to be comfortable in the water.
“We're in the Navy. We go out to sea. If you fall overboard you have to be able to protect yourself until help can find you,” said Schaperow.
Schaperow has been comfortable in the water from a very young age being from Deltona, Florida.
“I've been around water my whole life, grew up in central Florida,” he said. “If we weren't at the beaches, we were in the rivers or in the pools. I have taught swim lessons and ran a pool before, prior to the Navy, this just seemed like the next logical step.”
With the arduous duty and mission of RTC, Schaperow realizes the importance of focusing on the team and the other instructors he works with.
“Some people may just see you come in and do your job every day, but they don't see you on the side—counseling junior Sailors and mentoring,” said Schaperow. “Not everything in water survival division is swimming. If we, as leaders, don't know our people and who we're working with, how can we become better as a unit? If our people that we work with or work for us are not taken care of, how can they come to work and do what they need to do if they're not prepared themselves?”
In his short time of being at RTC since April 2022, Schaperow has left an impact on his leadership and people he works with.
“BM1 Schaperow truly has shown selfless devotion to the job,” said Chief Operations Specialist Anthony Frey, a water survival instructor. “His ability to stay humble about it, his continuous drive and work behind the scenes is the reason we want to put him in the spotlight.”
| Date Taken: | 12.07.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 12.07.2022 17:15 |
| Story ID: | 434706 |
| Location: | GREAT LAKES, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 432 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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