MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Virginia – “I have the most senior and experienced [career recruiters] out of Marine Corps Recruiting Command who get selected to come out here,” said Master Gunnery Sgt. James Brown, the chief of the National Training Team (NTT) at MCRC. “It takes a special Marine to get selected for this.”
The NTT of MCRC aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico, writes curriculums for recruiters and other units who need assistance, including the Basic Recruiter Course, Career Recruiters School, Recruiter Management Course and hostage negotiation curriculums. The team trains more than three thousand recruiters as well as other units to effectively recruit civilians to join the Marine Corps or the Marine Corps Reserve, or execute a mission.
The team consists of seven Marines: Chief Warrant Officer 5 Thomas Walker, the officer in charge of the NTT; Master Gunnery Sgt. James Brown, the chief of the NTT; Master Gunnery Sgt. John Vanko; Master Gunnery Sgt. William Brahen; Master Sgt. Christopher Panzika; Master Sgt. Aaron Strickland; and Master Sgt. David Mann, the newest member of the team.
“The fact that I have touched every single [recruiting station] across the nation is the most rewarding aspect of my job,” said Vanko.
Each year, the NTT creates six to eight courses, which equates to approximately 360 instructional hours of curriculum. Simultaneously, they travel across the nation and teach courses for 36 weeks annually.
“I would say the average Marine would lose their mind if they had to do what these guys do, but it’s a very rewarding job,” said Brown.
Recently, the NTT competed against hundreds of organizations and won a Gold Stevie Award for outstanding customer service and sales during the 12th Annual Stevie Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, February 24, 2018. The Stevie Awards, sponsored by the American Business Awards, were created in 2002 to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and working professionals worldwide.
The Brooks Group, a corporate sales training and sales management training company focused on helping companies build top-performing sales teams, partners with the NTT and submitted their entry for the award.
According to Joe Wilburn, the vice president of government services at the Brooks Group, the NTT work stands shoulder-to-shoulder with that of the best, most well-financed and most well-known organizations on the planet.
“It’s kind of like winning the Oscars for an actor,” said Brown. “It’s meaningful to me, to the team and to MCRC.”
Wilburn attested that the team accomplished more than they had in years prior due to their remarkable communication skills and unit cohesiveness.
"I personally witnessed the exceptional effort put forth by the National Training Team this past year," said Wilburn. "Collectively, they showed the highest level of commitment to developing quality training programs for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command."