MCPON Hagan Donates Shadow Box to RTC

GREAT LAKES, Ill. -- (NNS) -- More than 100 Recruit Training Command (RTC) staff and recruits were on hand aboard the USS Hopper recruit barracks to watch former Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) John Hagan donate his shadow box to the command April 5.

The box, which was built into a glass-top table, will remain on permanent display on the ship's quarterdeck.

"As I was cleaning the box to get it ready to be shipped here I became very emotional," said Hagan. "I began reading the plaques, looking at the mementos and thinking of the Chief's Mess who built and gave the box to me."

According to naval history, when a sailor retires and is departing the ship for the last time, it is considered bad luck for the sailor's shadow to touch land before they do. The sailor's shipmates would construct a box to display the sailor's accomplishments symbolically creating a "shadow" of the sailor. The box contains the sailor's "shadow" until they are safely ashore.

"I thought it would be great to display it in an area where recruits and staff can view it," said Hagan. "My hope is after viewing the box they can gain some inspiration from it."

In 1992, then-Secretary of the Navy Adm. Frank Kelso selected Hagan for the position of MCPON. He served in the position for six years before retiring in March 1998.

Prior to serving as MCPON, Hagan was Force Master Chief for the Chief of Naval Technical Training where he worked to improve recruit and advanced training standards for staff and students. Hagan was a member of a committee that developed the Sailor's Creed and Recruit Final Battle Problem, now known as Battle Stations.

"It was amazing touring the Battle Stations facility that recruits now train in," said Hagan. "Seeing the development of what I was involved in creating from a base wide course into a single location, interactive ship goes beyond what I had envisioned."

Battle Stations is a 12-hour event where recruits complete 17 different shipboard scenarios. The state-of-the-art training facility uses theme park special effects technology to simulate a variety of shipboard emergencies, such as shipboard fires and compartment flooding. The recruits must pass Battle Stations before graduating from boot camp.

Recruit Training Command, located in Great Lakes, Ill., trains over 37,000 volunteer civilian recruits annually, transforming them into basically trained Sailors. Learn more at http://bootcamp.navy.mil or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NavyRecruitTrainingCommand/ .

For more news from Recruit Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/rtc/.