Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John M. Richardson and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) Steven S. Giordano visited the Navy's Only Boot Camp, Recruit Training Command (RTC), June 29-30.

"I am so honored to be visiting Great Lakes," said Adm. Richardson. "This is a very special place. A place where our men and women make the transition from civilian to Sailor by raising their right hands and taking an oath to defend the constitution."

Accompanied by Rear Adm. Stephen C. Evans, commander, Naval Service Training Command (NSTC), CNO and MCPON toured RTC facilities on June 29, where they held a roundtable discussion on Navy training with leadership from area commands.

"It's a pleasure to have CNO join us again at RTC on Naval Station Great Lakes," said Rear Adm. Evans. "As Reviewing Officer at our graduation ceremony, we know he will be inspired to see the transformation process from civilians to Sailors, ready to join our world's finest Navy."

CNO also held an all hands call with RTC Sailors, fielding questions and reinforcing the importance of their work.

"The world is getting increasingly more competitive and it is vital that we maintain our advantage," said Richardson. "There is no way we can do this without our people. Our people are our advantage and you play a pivotal role in training and preparing them for the fleet."

While at Boot Camp, CNO and MCPON dined with recruits and toured the barracks and classrooms. Experiencing how each space is set up just like a ship, they observed how the daily routine for a recruit is similar to that on board a ship or submarine in the fleet.

On Friday, CNO and MCPON toured Battle Stations 21, the Navy's largest simulator, USS Trayer (BST-21), a 210-foot-long replica of an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, and the capstone event before recruits graduate Boot Camp. BST-21 is the culmination of eight weeks of training. It is a 12-hour test of a recruit's skills in 17 shipboard evolutions, including fighting fires and flooding, simulated missile attacks, mass casualties, and ship survivability scenarios.

Following BST-21, CNO served as the Reviewing Officer for Recruit Graduation, where 552 recruits graduated at Midway Ceremonial Drill Hall filled with more than 2,000 family and friends. As Reviewing Officer, Richardson congratulated the recruits, families and friends attending the ceremony.

"When I think about our Navy Team today, I'm humbled that we have volunteers brave enough to raise their right hands, even after 15 years of continuous war, and swear the same exact oath to support and defend our Constitution," Richardson said. "You're joining this amazing team at a time in our history where the Navy can and must win. I'm looking forward to hearing about all the great things you'll do out in the Fleet."

RTC is responsible for conducting the initial Navy orientation and training of new recruits. The command is commonly referred to as "Boot Camp" and has been in operation at Great Lakes since 1911.

Boot camp is approximately eight weeks, and all enlistees into the United States Navy begin their careers at the command. Training includes physical fitness, seamanship, firearms familiarization, firefighting and shipboard damage control, lessons in Navy heritage and core values, teamwork and discipline. Since the closure of RTCs in Orlando and San Diego in 1994, RTC Great Lakes is, today, the Navy's only basic training location, and is known as "The Quarterdeck of the Navy." Today, about 30,000 to 40,000 recruits graduate annually from RTC and begin their Navy careers.

RTC is overseen by Rear Adm. Stephen C. Evans, NSTC commander, at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois. NSTC (NSTC) oversees 98 percent of initial officer and enlisted accessions training for the Navy. NSTC also includes the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) at more than 160 colleges and universities, Officer Training Command at Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, and Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) and Navy National Defense Cadet Corps (NNDCC) citizenship development programs at more than 600 high schools worldwide.

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

For more information about Naval Service Training Command, visit http://www.netc.navy.mil/nstc/ or visit the NSTC Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/NavalServiceTraining/.

For more news from Naval Service Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/.