NMTI's Play Vital Role in Preparing Students for the Fleet

GREAT LAKES (NNS) -- Behind every successful student who emerges from Training Support Center (TSC) Great Lakes, stands a Sailor wearing a red-and-white rope that has helped prepare them as they head out to the Fleet.

The prestigious ropes worn by TSC's NMTI signify they are qualified to oversee barracks of anywhere from 150 to 400 students. NMTIs guide the students through the Sailorization process. While Recruit Division Commanders (RDC) provide the Navy military training to recruits during boot camp by giving them the fundamental tools they need to become a Sailor, NMTIs take the next step in the process by helping the students to hone those tools and actually use them during "A" School.

"The job we do here at TSC is as important as the job the RDCs do at RTC; there's just a different level of responsibility," explained NMTI Master Chief Fire Controlman (SW) Nicholas Petric, TSC's operations staff leading chief petty officer. "Over here, they are no longer recruits; they're students who are given more freedom back and they have outside influences and liberty that did not happen at RTC."

Petric, who has been at TSC since July 2012, also has first-hand experience with recruits having served as an RDC from 2003 to 2007.

NMTI's make up approximately 80 percent of TSC's enlisted military staff and most of them are stationed full-time in the ships (barracks) providing around-the-clock mentorship. They are the staff members who routinely conduct inspections of living quarters and uniforms, overseeing watch standing, ensuring general health and wellness, upholding all Navy regulations and standards, holding weekly training, and personifying Navy core values. They also have the opportunity to obtain Master Training Specialist designation.

"What motivates Sailors to come back here to Great Lakes to be an NMTI is that we have the largest concentration of new accession Sailors with whom we have a big impact on the early part of the careers," said Petric.

NMTI Yeoman 1st Class (SW) Jeffrey Warner has been at TSC for two years and most recently worked at the USS Missouri (Bachelor Enlisted Quarters 634) helping to oversee 350-400 students.

Warner stresses that NMTIs try to emphasize to the students about how to make the right decisions, not just in their Navy training environment, but in life, such as when they're out on the town.

"I get a lot of Sailors who come to me for advice with personal stuff. One was contemplating getting married but wasn't sure because he was going into the Navy SEAL program, while another needed financial advice," said Warner. "Having that influence over them, not just as a petty officer in a Navy environment, but just as a general role model position, is really the big difference I've made: not just give them advice while in the uniform, but outside the uniform also."

Shore duty at TSC lasts for 36 months and NMTIs are able to make their own schedules rotating between a chief and four petty officers in each barracks for morning, afternoon and evening shifts.

Aside from their leadership roles in the barracks, NMTIs have the opportunity to teach courses such as bystander intervention which is a Navy strategy to address changes in attitudes and behaviors about sexual assault and prevention.

"You will never be in charge of this many people, not even if you're on a carrier. It will make you a better Sailor and it prepares you for when you go back to the Fleet," said Petric.

Gaining such leadership experience at TSC is something Warner believes Sailors should strive for. While he initially came here believing he would be doing regular yeoman work, he is grateful for the opportunity to become an NMTI.

"My two years here have made me better at decision making, better at prioritizing, being an overall leader, and I have had a positive influence on junior Sailors," said Warner. "This is a great place to develop your own leadership style and to actually make a difference. When you go home, you actually do feel like you made a difference in people's lives, especially, when the students are leaving TSC and they come up to you to thank you and say, 'I'm not going to forget the things you taught us how to do.'"

For more news from Training Support Center Great Lakes, visit www.navy.mil/local/tscgl/.