Navy

On March 09, 2023, five sailors from Navy Talent Acquisition Groups (NTAGs) across the country traveled to the Navy Recruiting Orientation Unit (NORU) for the presentation of the Master Chief Bakarian Memorial Award and Officer Recruiter Distinguished Graduate Award. The awards, presented quarterly, are designed to recognize new recruiters for high production within their first twelve months of recruiting duty. The award ceremony is being reintroduced for the first time since 2018 after a brief hiatus due to COVID-19.

The awardees began their visit by answering questions and providing valuable feedback to NORU officers and instructors. They shared information on the struggles recruiters face, as well as some best practices they’ve gained from the field.

“It really is 36 one month tours” says Electronics Technician 2nd Class Alexandria Douglas from NTAG Mid America. “You constantly have to be getting ready for the next thing. This is independent duty, so all the rewards and consequences are on you.”

She continued with a piece of advice for recruiters, expressing that “staying in contact with the people you go to school with at NORU is one of your best resources because everyone is learning how to do it together. You may not know who, but someone’s going to have an answer for you.”

NORU Officer-in-Charge Commander Nicholas Turner and NORU instructor Senior Chief Theodore Boerner then presented these sailors with the highest award in Navy recruiting.

Boerner highlighted the award’s namesake, Navy Counselor Master Chief Anthony Bakarian. “He made goal 30 consecutive months in a row. He was a person who always put his recruiters first, and epitomized a leader in both his actions and his appearance.” His guidance and dedication continue to inspire the Navy’s recruiting force at more than 1,000 stations today.

Upon their return to NORU, the five distinguished sailors also provided words of wisdom to current students at the schoolhouse.

Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Weng Chan shared his own story with a class of Enlisted recruiters. “I moved to the United States when I was 19. 7 years later, I joined the Navy. What makes YOU unique?” he asks the students. “For my applicants, I give them confidence. If I can do it, they can do it. Once you have your own style, it gets easier.”

A common theme shared by the awardees is their willingness to adapt, not only to overcome adversities, but also to change their prospecting methods. These highly motivated recruiters are able to take techniques learned at NORU and transform them into a successful strategy for connecting with prospects.

“Stuff is changing all the time in recruiting,” says Navy Counselor 2nd Class Moises Casusocasales of NTAG Southwest. “Do something different, and try to be well rounded. You’re talking to 17 and 18 year olds. You want them to associate the Navy with having fun!””

The award recipients are as follows:

Master Chief Bakarian Award Winners:

In attendance – QM2 Michael Nolan, NTAG Nashville, NRS Kingsport

ET2 Alexandria Douglas, NTAG Mid America, NRS Wichita East

NC2 Moises Casusocasales, NTAG Southwest, NRS Las Vegas

MM2 Weng Chan, NTAG Empire State, NRS Elmhurst

STG1 William Harris, NTAG San Antonio, NRS Ingram

ABF1 Leo Hernandez, NTAG Southwest, NRS National City

ETN2 Jonathan Spanel, NTAG Carolina, NRS Jacksonville

MMAC Paul Tanguay, NTAG New England, NRS Springfield

QM2 Tyshawn Scott, NTAG Houston, NRS North Shore

ABE1 Thomas Echeverria, NTAG Pittsburgh, NRS Batavia

AWF1 Stavros Litras, NTAG Empire State, NRS Downtown Brooklyn

Officer Recruiter Distinguished Graduate Winners:

In attendance – LT Chad Bylsma, NTAG New England

HM1 Reyvictor Chua, NTAG New England

The Navy Recruiting Orientation Unit is the Navy’s sole recruiting schoolhouse, providing technical and professional training to Enlisted and Officer personnel from every community that will help them succeed in today’s challenging recruiting environment.

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — For the second year in a row, 180 women from across the Korean Peninsula gathered, March 3-5, at the Dragon Hill Lodge, Seoul, for a retreat to build connections and strengthen spiritual resiliency. The event was organized by three Camp Humphreys women, Evelyn Gee, Allie Newman and Monica Guthrie.

“The vision came from having a sense that military women, both service women and spouses, were feeling very disconnected when they are so far away from home,” said Gee, who was the retreat coordinator and whose spouse serves in the Eighth Army. “So not only needing the connection to Jesus, but a connection to each other.”

Newman, whose husband is in the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, served as the administrative director, and Guthrie, who works for U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys, served as the marketing director. Chaplain (Col.) Karen Meeker, the chaplain for the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, returned to Korea as the main speaker. Meeker, who was previously the Eighth Army chaplain, was the speaker last year and flew in from Washington, D.C., to participate in the event.

“I was here last year and it was an incredible weekend,” said Meeker. “We had commanders, we had sergeants, we had junior enlisted attend this weekend. It’s really important to come together and for this community to be encouraged in their faith. It’s a hard environment to be in, so far from the United States, serving here with a real mission and a real enemy to the north, North Korea, China, Russia, so this event is really critical.”

Registration for the event opened Jan. 18 for active duty service members, and then Jan. 25 for all others. While service members were the target audience, the event was open to military spouses, government employees and dependents 18 years and older. The theme for this year was “Grow Up” a progression from last year’s theme and namesake, “We Grow Together.” Gee said one of the goals of the retreat was to reach those women who may be in more isolated locations.

“This retreat reaches out across the peninsula and we really wanted to reach into areas where we didn’t have as many ladies come last year to make solid contact with them, connect with them, and to help that area grow,” said Gee. “Last year for instance, we had one woman come from Busan and she commented to me that this year they tripled and they had three, so their goal is to next year is to triple that. That’s the way we want to go forward every year, doubling and tripling the numbers that come from each area and growing those connections.”

The event attendees included service members from the Army, Air Force and the Navy. Attendees participate in worship, interactive games and crafts, discussion and heard from a special guest, Kim Hye-won, who gained attention for her work with serial killer, Kim Dae-do.

Su Cobban, who works as the director of religious education in Daegu attended for the second year and said she hopes more service members attend next year.

“I will strongly advocate to bring more green-suiters to make sure they attend this wonderful event,” said Cobban. “I think for these Christian ladies in Area IV (Daegu), this is a wonderful opportunity for them to come here and get connected with other sisters in Christ and share their faith and their experiences as they stay overseas. It’s also a great opportunity for them to come in and get revived.”

Gee said planning for the event takes a full year, looking for locations and coming up with the theme and details. Both Gee and Meeker said the success of the retreat was only made possible by the support of the command teams and the religious support office. Keeping the event affordable was a priority for Gee who considered the potential financial limitations of junior service members who may want to attend.

“We’ve gotten tremendous support based off how the RSO and the garrison hear how the ladies connected with the chapel and each other,” said Gee. “The RSO and the chapel communities gave us (funds) to make it possible for the ladies to go to Dragon Hill and experience a great weekend without having to spend a lot of money.”

“I’d like to say thanks to all the commands that supported, and to the chapel congregations that put their support so that 180 women, from all over, could attend,” said Meeker. “It takes everybody to have such a large event like this. Thank you.”