ROCHESTER, N.Y. (May 30, 2026) - An end of tour award is typically given to a service member at the end of a tour at the command they are stationed in recognition of outstanding service. For Mark Hardy, formerly radioman 1st class, his end of tour award for recruiting came 30 years later.
During a ceremony, April 1, 2026, Mark was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for outstanding services as a recruiter at Navy Recruiting Station Victor, formerly named NRS Henrietta, in Rochester, New York. In attendance were his two sons, Chief Information Systems Technician Ryan Hardy, currently a recruiter assigned to Navy Talent Acquisition Group Pittsburgh; and Chief Gunner’s Mate Chad Hardy, assigned to Center for Security Forces Detachment Chesapeake, Virginia.
Mark served as an active-duty recruiter from 1978 to 1981. After leaving active duty, and a stint as a civilian fire fighter, Mark decided to re-join the Navy in the reserves. While in the reserves, Mark volunteered to be mobilized on active-duty orders and serve as a recruiter from 1984 to 1986. While assigned as a recruiter, he was attached to Navy Recruiting District Buffalo, and worked out of NRS Henrietta as one of the first to occupy that office. He continued his career until 1991, when he was medically discharged.
“The awards were different back when I was in, in how they were awarded,” said Mark. "So before, Navy achievement medals went to truly the almost end of your career. It was your parting gift.”
Despite 20 years of service on active duty and in the reserves, Mark never had a retirement ceremony, and despite five years as a recruiter, he never received an end of tour award. In 2021, after a long administrative process and multiple appeals, Mark was granted retirement by the Board of Corrections of Naval Records.
According to Mark, the only thing that was missing was closure. Despite remembering his naval career fondly, it never fully sat right with Mark how his career ended.
With Mark’s Navy career behind him, he focused on raising his two sons. Ryan says that he always admired his father and decided that he wanted to join the Navy like him, so in 2014, he walked into NRS Henrietta and enlisted as an information systems technician. He served a variety of tours and is now a recruiter. He took an assignment close to home in Rochester but never expected to occupy the same office that his father began.
NRDs across the country have been rebranded as NTAGs, and NTAG Pittsburgh absorbed NRD Rochester. NRS Henrietta was rebranded as NRS Victor. After realizing that he was in fact stationed at the exact same command and office that his father once was assigned to, he realized he was in the position to finally have an end of tour award presented to his father.
“It’s ironic because I didn’t choose to work here,” said Ryan. “When I was screened for recruiting, I was given two options, but I chose the other one. Then that ability to choose was changed and I was assigned NRS Victor. It wasn’t until I put the address into Google Maps that I realized it was the office I was recruited out of.”
He worked with NTAG Pittsburgh’s administration department and chain of command to have the award ready, while keeping it a secret from his father. The command arranged to present the award during a command-wide training evolution at Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station.
Ryan invited Mark to the event under the premise that Ryan would be receiving an award.
“When the command master chief started talking, he mentioned my name,” says Mark. “I turned to my wife, and I can’t even catch my breath. I was absolutely in awe. It meant a lot.”
Mark was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal during the retirement ceremony.
“As an adult, you realize the sacrifice that your parents make for you,” said Ryan. “This is something that I know that he would appreciate and would mean a lot to him. So, if I have the ability to do it, why wouldn’t I do it?”
NTAG Pittsburgh, part of Navy Recruiting Command, recruits the next generation of Navy Sailors throughout areas in Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, and Maryland.
| Date Taken: |
05.31.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
06.02.2026 11:55 |
| Story ID: |
566680 |
| Location: |
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, US |
| Hometown: |
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: |
58 |
| Downloads: |
0 |
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This work, Like Father, Like Son: A recruiter’s legacy, by PO1 Robert Stamer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
