The interactive Recruit Reboot war game that evaluates the most effective training practices at Recruit Training Command (RTC), the Navy's only boot camp, closed its online portal with success and strong feedback, May 13.

Yeoman 1st Class Victor Gonzalez Jr. scored the most points (7,859), contributing more than 1,572 comments on recruit training. Gonzalez, from Pullman, Michigan, is the administration leading petty officer for Commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Group at Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads, Virginia.

As the winner of Recruit Reboot and for his positive contribution to naval accessions training, Gonzalez will receive a flag letter of commendation from Rear Adm. Stephen C. Evans, commander, Naval Service Training Command (NSTC).

"I thought [by] being able to play the game I could do my part to help with the training of recruits; Recruit Reboot was a good way to get my opinion out," said Gonzalez. "At the end of the day, we see how discrepancies in boot camp affect the fleet. It's awesome to be part of any line of communication to provide feedback to RTC."

Although player points were displayed in the game, comments were completely anonymous. Recruit Reboot is part of the Massive Multiplayer Online Wargame Leveraging the Internet (MMOWGLI) platform, generated by the Naval Postgraduate School and NSTC to use feedback commentary to help solve challenges. Players provided feedback by playing 'idea cards' on six areas of training -- including Militarization, Damage Control, Seamanship, Personal Financial Development, Policy, and Watchstanding. Players earned points with each card they played, as well as by commenting on other players' cards.

"We are very pleased with the responses we received from Sailors in the fleet," said Evans. "Feedback was overwhelmingly constructive and well thought out, which shows us that fleet Sailors understand the importance of accessions training and want to do their part to train their future shipmates."

According to NSTC's N7 Training Directorate, participation in Recruit Reboot was just shy of 900 registered users from across the globe -- including all fleets and all communities in approximately 12 countries, two underway aircraft carriers and a multipurpose amphibious assault ship. Players ranged from new Sailors still in "A" and "C" schools, Sailors who have been out of boot camp for 10 years, veteran Sailors with more than 10 years of service, Department of the Navy civilians and even a few officers. Players made 4,876 comments on game idea cards and came up with 25 action plans that were more detailed on desired changes in training at RTC.

According to N7 Training and Readiness Officer Lt. Daniel Golde, action plans led to healthy discussions between the registered online players.

"They discussed what they thought needed to change, as well as how to do it and why it made sense for the Navy," said Golde. "They even went so far as to discuss what resources it would take to make changes to recruit training."

Golde said these discussions help to provide recruits with better hands-on learning environments to improve their retention before graduating from boot camp.

The NSTC N7 staff is currently completing data analysis and creating an informational brief for presentation to an upcoming Enlisted Board of Advisors (EBOA) followed by an Executive Steering Committee (ESC) later this summer.

"The EBOA will look at our informational brief of the data and overarching themes that came out of Recruit Reboot," Golde said. "The EBOA will then craft together a decision brief to then present to the ESC."

NSTC first used the MMOWGLI platform to initiate fleet feedback for a Human Performance Requirements Review (HPRR) April 2015 to analyze and validate the Professional Core Competency Manual -- standardized criteria all officer accession programs use to accomplish training. The new manual, with many suggestions from the fleet feedback hit the streets a couple of months after MMOWGLI closed its portal.

Evans and his NSTC staff are headquartered at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois, and oversee 98 percent of initial officer and enlisted accessions training for the Navy, as well as the Navy's Citizenship Development program. NSTC includes RTC at Naval Station Great Lakes, Naval ROTC at more than 160 colleges and universities, Officer Training Command at Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, Navy Junior ROTC, and Navy National Defense Cadet Corps (NNDCC) citizenship development programs at more than 600 high schools worldwide.

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