Recruit Training Command (RTC) was selected as a recipient of the Retention Excellence Award for Fiscal Year 2018.

The Retention Excellence Award, established by the United States Fleet Forces Command through the Fleet Retention Excellence Program, is annually awarded to U.S. Navy commands that sustain superior levels of military retention during the previous fiscal year.

“RTC is extremely difficult duty, and the fact we earned the Retention Excellence Award says that people are proud of what they are doing and they enjoy doing it,” said RTC Command Master Chief David Twiford. “It’s easy when you get to some tough duties to think maybe the Navy’s not for you. Here, we have great leaders who enjoy what they do, they know the mission impact and it makes them want to stay and do more of it. For us, having this award is proof that people have bought into being a part of this mission.”

To receive the award, a command has to meet retention requirements for at least two of the four quarters during a fiscal year. Awardees achieved a minimum score of 85 points on their annual command Career Information Program Review in addition to meeting benchmarks for re-enlistment and attrition rates during the fiscal year. These have shown that effective programs strengthen support for Sailors.

This coveted award is annually given to commands to recognize superior military retention. To accomplish this feat, commands must maintain an attrition rate for first-term Sailors below five percent, sustain superior levels of retention for each reenlistment zone and reach a number of benchmarks emphasizing career readiness standards.

The six programs are Sponsorship, Indoctrination, Mentorship, Career Development Boards, Ombudsman and Recognition.

“The Retention Excellence Award is a review of the Career Counselor Course," said Chief Navy Counselor Timothy Nugent. "In order to receive it the command must meet/exceed benchmarks established by Navy Personnel Command. Without the hard work and support from the departmental/divisional counselors, we would not have achieved this award. By earning the award, RTC staff is engaged in our Sailors careers and personal lives.”

While the command career counselors play a pivotal role in Sailors’ future, it takes a team effort to make sure they're properly looked after.

“The career counselors are an organizational piece of the retention excellence, but it really is a command award,"  said Twiford. "It’s about the individual Sailor who decided, ‘I want to stay.’ It’s everyone’s award. The career counselors do a great job of making sure the administrative part or our package is put together in helping Sailors accomplish their goals, such as reenlist or get a good set of orders, but really it’s everybody. Here, we have a great career retention team and each department has their own career counselors, each ship and division have their own career counselors, and they’re all playing into that role. It’s a team effort.”

As a recipient of the award, RTC can now display the Retention Excellence Award Pennant that recognizes commands and other units for achieving high levels of personnel retention. This is the surface unit equivalent of Navy ships that are awarded the “Golden Anchor Award” and allow their crews to paint the ship’s anchor gold.

“I’m extremely proud of our team whether it’s the golden anchor award and any other awards we get. We do a lot more up here than just ‘push boots,’" said Twiford. "The totality of what it takes to run this command is more than what people think. A lot of people when they think about boot camp, all they know is their own recruit experience. I will tell people they need to come up here and see what RTC does totality wise, and they would be astonished what it takes and our career counselors are a big part of that.”

Boot camp is approximately eight weeks and all enlistees into the U.S. Navy begin their careers at the command. Training includes physical fitness, seamanship, firearms, firefighting and shipboard damage control along with lessons in Navy heritage and core values, teamwork and discipline. More than 35,0000 recruits graduate annually from RTC and begin their Navy careers.

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

Get more information about the Navy from US Navy facebook or twitter.

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