Notre Dame NROTC New Ensigns Visit Those They May Lead

By Scott A. Thornbloom, Naval Service Training Command Public Affairs

June 10, 2010 - NAVAL STATION GREAT LAKES, Ill. (NNS) -- As this year's NROTC "season of commissionings" winds down more than 900 Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) midshipmen have been commissioned as ensigns in the U.S. Navy at more than 100 universities across the country.

Ensign Colin Ryan 22, from Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, is working toward becoming a submariner and is attending nuclear propulsion school in Charlotte, S.C.

He and several of his fellow "Fighting Irish" graduates and new Navy officers had a chance to see firsthand, the new Sailors they may command June 3-7.

The group toured Recruit Training Command (RTC), the Navy's only boot camp, and attended a graduation of more than 800 of the Navy's newest Sailors. What they witnessed was the transformation of recruits into the Sailors they may command on submarines, ships, air wings, hospitals and with special operations.

"This is a great opportunity for them to come to Great Lakes and see the training process for those Sailors," said Capt. Dale Nees, professor of Naval science and commanding officer of the Notre Dame NROTC unit.

"It gives them a feel for what goes on the recruit training side, because most people don't get to see that. I never saw RTC until I was in my 28th year in the Navy. Being here gets the new officers closer to that link and delivery of Sailors to the fleet. "

Before attending the recruit graduation, the officers were given an overall tour of RTC. They were shown a recruit barracks and how each barracks is now set up like a ship -- with quarterdeck watches, classrooms, a galley, dining facility, laundry facilities and berthing compartments.

They also toured the largest building on RTC, Freedom Hall, where recruits take part in physical training evolutions and take Physical Fitness Assessments (PFA).

For many, the highlight of the visit was a tour of USS Trayer (BST 21) and Battle Stations. Trayer is a 210-foot-long destroyer simulator where recruits go through 12 hours of 17 grueling scenarios based on actual Navy mishaps. The scenarios simulate the USS Stark (FFG 31) after the destroyer was hit by two Iraqi missiles in 1987, USS Tripoli (LPH 10) after the multipurpose amphibious assault ship struck an Iraqi mine during Operation Desert Storm in February 1991 and the USS Cole (DDG 67) suicide bomb attack by terrorists while refueling in the Yemeni port of Aden Oct. 12, 2000.

"Our visit here was extremely motivating getting to see the other side of things and how the recruits are trained and how they handle that training," said Ensign Jennifer Malherek, 21, from LaPlata, Md.

"I think it gave all of us a better understanding of what these recruits have gone through early in their Navy career and how we can use what we saw here to better relate to the Sailors we'll see out in the fleet."

Malherek, who will be a surface warfare officer aboard USS Howard (DDG 83), also said battle stations was very emotional.

"It was very motivating seeing the recruits at the capping ceremony after finishing battle stations when they switched out their Recruit ball caps to a Navy ball cap," she said.

Ensign Molly Jakubowski, 22, from Grand Rapids, Mich., and studying to be a Navy nurse, said one thing kept running through her mind during the visit.

"I kept thinking how the new Sailors are coming into the Navy as enlisted and we're coming in right now as officers and we're all kind of new at this together."

Prior to the graduation at RTC June 4, the new commissioned officers ate dinner with recruits, the night before graduation, in the dining facility of USS Arizona recruit barracks.

"It was both eye-opening and motivating to see the level of training and the quality of men and women coming into the Navy today," said Ensign Brien Steenberge, 22, from Grandbury, Texas, and who is scheduled to go to BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALS) and hopes to become a apecial operator.

"Sitting down with them at dinner and talking to them, finding out many of them are our age and have had similar experiences and just to see the different training they go through here and knowing that's the level of well-trained and smart men and women we will be getting in the fleet is very exciting," he said.

Following the graduation Nees, who was the reviewing officer at the ceremony, summed up the visit in one word.

"Proud. I'm very proud to play a part in this graduation and it makes me proud to see the high quality of the young men and women who have volunteered to serve their country," Nees said.

The NROTC program, overseen by Naval Service Training Command at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., was established to develop midshipmen mentally, morally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, loyalty and Navy core values in order to commission college graduates as naval officers who possess a basic professional background, are motivated toward careers in the naval service and have a potential for future development in mind and character so as to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.