University of Illinois Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) 1st class midshipmen visited Commander, Naval Service Training Command (NSTC) and toured Recruit Training Command (RTC), Nov. 13.

The midshipmen visited the Navy's only boot camp and sat down with Rear Adm. Stephen C. Evans, NSTC commander, to discuss leadership in the Navy.

The tour of RTC provided the soon-to-be naval officers a chance to see firsthand the new Sailors they may command in the coming years.

"We thought this would be a great professional development opportunity for them to see Sailors starting out their Navy career," said Lt. Mike Haberkorn, a naval science instructor and junior/senior advisor at the university.

"These are our seniors and they will be commissioning in May," Haberkorn said. "As they are going to be starting new in the fleet as ensigns, we want them to see where their peers start on the enlisted side, what do they go through to earn the title of U.S. Sailor."

The "Fighting Illini" midshipmen also attended a Pass-In-Review (PIR) graduation of more than 650 of the Navy's newest Sailors. At the weekly graduation, the midshipmen witnessed the transformation of civilians into recruits and recruits into the Sailors they may command on submarines, ships, air wings, hospitals and with special operations units.

"As a midshipman and spending time at Illinois (in Champaign, Illinois) we don't get to see or interact with a lot of Navy personnel," said Midshipman 1st Class Scott Van Hoy, 21, from Alton, Ill. "It was great to come up here and see the Sailors we will be leading in the future and what kind of training they have had to go through in order to graduate boot camp."

Before attending the recruit PIR graduation, the midshipmen enjoyed breakfast with recruits in the USS Triton recruit ship barracks. All recruit barracks are named for past Navy ships and are set up like a ship, with quarterdeck watches, classrooms, a galley, a dining facility, laundry facilities and berthing compartments.

For many, the highlight of the visit was a tour of USS Trayer (BST 21) and Battle Stations. Trayer is a 210-foot-long Arleigh Burke-class destroyer simulator where recruits go through 12 hours of 17 grueling scenarios based on actual Navy mishaps, and is the capstone of all training received by the recruits. The scenarios simulate 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.

"It was really inspiring to watch what the recruits went through, especially during battle stations," said Midshipman 1st Class Eric Groeteke, 23, from Springfield, Ill. "It gives me a better idea of the backgrounds of the recruits and how they get to the fleet and how I'll be better able to lead them."

Van Hoy agreed and said seeing the pride of the Navy and how happy the recruits were putting on their Navy ball caps, was inspirational.

Midshipman 1st Class Joshua Lanzona, 21, from Anaheim, Calif., said it was amazing to think that some of the recruits that graduated on May 26 will soon be under his charge in the fleet.

"This showed me how much they really enjoy the training and how much pride they had accomplishing the passing of Battle Stations and graduating from boot camp," said Lanzona. "I kept thinking how these new Sailors are going out into the Navy as enlisted Sailors, and we're going to be heading to the fleet next year as Navy officers, and we're all kind of new at this together."

Following the PIR graduation in the Midway Ceremonial Drill Hall at RTC, the soon-to-be commissioned officers visited with Stevens in his headquarters at historic Building 1 on Naval Station Great Lakes.

They sat down with the admiral to ask him leadership questions and listen to any advice he had about being a newly-commissioned officer.

"It was both eye-opening and motivating to be able to sit down with the admiral and receive his advice and leadership tips," said Midshipman Jonah Shiffleit, 21, from Gurnee, Ill. "It helped to put everything in perspective and helped me feel better about heading to the fleet to lead some of the Sailors we saw today."

The NROTC program develops midshipmen mentally, morally and physically, to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, loyalty and Navy core values. The program provides college graduates an opportunity to commission as naval officers who possess a basic professional background, are motivated toward careers in the naval service, and have potential for future development in mind and character, so as to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.

RTC is primarily responsible for conducting the initial Navy orientation and training of new recruits. The command is commonly referred to as "boot camp" or "recruit training."

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 the Navy's only basic training location, and is known as "The Quarterdeck of the Navy." Today, approximately 39,000 recruits graduate annually from RTC and begin their Navy careers.

Evans and his NSTC staff 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, NROTC units at more than 160 colleges and universities, Officer Training Command at Naval Station Newport, R.I., 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 information about NROTC, visit http://www.nrotc.navy.mil/.

Learn more about RTC at http://bootcamp.navy.mil or find them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NavyRecruitTrainingCommand/.

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

More information about NSTC can be found by visiting http://www.netc.navy.mil/nstc/ or visit the NSTC Facebook pages at http://www.facebook.com/NavalServiceTraining/.

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