The Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Command Sgt. Maj. John W. Troxell, visited Recruit Training Command and delivered remarks at recruit graduation Sept. 22.

Troxell served as the reviewing officer at the ceremony that had seven divisions and 607 recruits entering the fleet.

"In 22 months in this job, this has been one of the absolute best visits I've had, and you're talking to a guy that, three weeks out of the month for the past almost two years, I've been out visiting the troops," said Troxell. "This visit showed me that the Navy has got it right, and is going in the right direction to build the physical, mental and emotional toughness, resiliency and readiness that we need in the young men and women to serve in our Navy today. By building this foundation here and as they go through their "A" Schools and out into the fleet, we are going to continue having men and women that are part of the frontline effort to defend our homeland and will continue to make us the greatest Navy on the earth."

As the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the senior non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Armed Forces, Troxell serves as the principal military advisor to the Chairman and the Secretary of Defense on all matters involving joint and combined total force integration, utilization, health of the force and joint development for enlisted personnel.

He also toured the command to observe recruit training and the various facilities used.

His tour kicked off with a visit to the USS Marlinespike, a two-day, basic seamanship training evolution where recruits learn hands-on shipboard training on a simulated ship, covering everything from line handling and shipboard watch standing, to ultimately teaching them how to launch a ship and bring it into port safely.

Next up, he visited the largest building on RTC, the 173,000 square-foot three-story Freedom Hall Physical Fitness facility. Freedom Hall is where recruits train and take their three Physical Fitness Assessments (PFAs) during boot camp.

Troxell continued on to the USS Triton where he had the opportunity to dine with staff members in the Recruit Division Commander lounge.

Following lunch, he continued the tour by visiting the USS Missouri Small Arms Marksmanship Trainer (SAMT). While there he had the opportunity to see how recruits learn to handle and fire the Navy's standard issue M9 Beretta pistol. SAMT uses red laser lights and pneumatic air to simulate the firing and hits on a computer target. After the day of qualifying at SAMT, recruits then go next door to live-fire the weapons at the USS Wisconsin indoor range.

Next up, Troxell toured the USS Indianapolis Combat Training Pool and Golden Thirteen In-processing Center. Golden Thirteen is named after the first 13 African-American Navy officers and is where all recruits begin their Navy adventure.

He wrapped up the day's visit with an office call with the RTC Command Triad at the USS Iowa.

Well before the sun rose on Friday, Troxell began his day with a visit to Battle Stations 21 to view a mass casualty scenario aboard USS Trayer (BST-21), a 210-foot Arleigh Burke-class destroyer simulator, the largest in the Navy.

Battle Stations 21 is the capstone event that culminates eight weeks of boot camp training. Each recruit must complete 17 scenarios during a 12-hour, overnight period. The scenarios encompass all training learned during boot camp from firefighting to preventing and stopping flooding in a ship compartment. There are also casualty evacuations, watch standing, loading and unloading supplies, and line handling.

Troxell was also able to attend the recruit capping ceremony following their successful completion of BST-21 where they trade their "Recruit" ball caps for "Navy" ball caps.

During the graduation ceremony, Carter spoke to the graduating recruits and relayed a strong message to them.

"Today is a day to celebrate but it's the start of building this excellence that you have to be getting after throughout your career. You have to go off to "A" School, you have to learn your craft, you have to perfect your craft, but most importantly, when you get out to the fleet you have to take all of this foundation stuff and continue to build on it because never in the history of this country has the line between war and peace been so blurred that on any given day," said Troxell. "You could be dealing with malign influence in the sea or you could be dealing with emergency type situations, so every day we have to prepare ourselves for what could be the worst day of our life. That worst day of life could be in combat, it could be in an accident where you have flooding and fires and you have to have perfected your craft to deal with that. Never allow yourself to become complacent, always strive for excellence and always continue to get better every day."

Boot camp is approximately eight weeks long and all enlistees into the U.S. Navy begin their careers at the command. Training includes physical fitness, seamanship, firearms training, firefighting and shipboard damage control along with lessons in Navy heritage and core values, teamwork and discipline. About 30,000 to 40,000 recruits graduate annually from RTC and begin their Navy careers.



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