The Chief of Brazilian Navy Training toured the Navy's only boot camp, Recruit Training Command (RTC) here, April 25.

During the visit, Vice Adm. Antonio Fernando Garcez Faria observed recruits training, toured facilities and visited with staff and recruits. Capt. Michael S. Garrick, RTC's commanding officer, escorted Garcez and his two staff officers during their tour of the command.

"I was very impressed with the training and facilities but I think my favorite part was visiting with the recruits and Sailors," said Garcez, who ate breakfast and lunch with recruits.

Capt. Garrick called the tour and visit "a great opportunity to share with partner navies. As professional mariners, we all benefit from exchanging ideas and perspectives on areas of common interest. It helps us continuously improve how we produce basically trained Sailors."

Following breakfast, the visit continued with a tour at RTC's premiere training facility, USS Trayer (BST 21). The 210-foot-long Arleigh Burke-class destroyer simulator, the U. S. Navy's largest, is home for Battle Stations, a grueling 12-hour culmination of basic training and the last evolution recruits complete before they graduate.

Garcez and his staff were fascinated by the sights and sounds Trayer presented by using the latest in simulation technology with video screens, piped-in smells, large stereo woofer-created vibrations and shipboard sound effects from helicopters to missile hits.

After the tour of Trayer, the Brazilian top training officer reviewed a capping ceremony where he observed recruits receiving their Navy ball caps indicating they were now Sailors in the United States Navy.

"I think it's very important to do tours/visits like this. It helps strengthen our ties with allies and also opens up communication, training possibilities/discussions, and ways to improve our Navy," said Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Shannon Dawkins, a Recruit Division Commander who escorted Garcez and his staff on their tour of Trayer.

"He was impressed with Battle Stations 21. He commented on how large the ship actually was and the realistic feel/look to the ship. There were a few questions he had about our scenarios and how they played out and how the recruits were monitored by facilitators."

Along with the tour of Trayer and Battle Stations, the group also toured one of the 13 recruit ships, or barracks, on RTC. While inside the recruit barracks, the group saw how each is set up like a ship with galleys, classrooms, berthing compartments and offices. They observed how the daily routine for a recruit is similar to the routine on board a ship or submarine in the fleet, and toured the different facilities that provide training in weapons handling, weapons firing, firefighting, damage control, line handling and the state-of-the-art physical fitness facility, Freedom Hall.

Lt. Jennifer Hoffen, the recruit in-processing and "Night of Arrival" division officer, where recruits begin their Navy boot camp adventure, said Garcez seemed very impressed by our processes and the standards expected for incoming recruits.

"I think it is important to conduct tours like these because there is so much we can learn from each other," Hoffen said. "Some of the processes that we utilize have been in place for a long time, while others we are still working out the kinks. When we conduct tours like this, we can help other countries Navy's while also potentially getting some great ideas for how things are done there. I also think it's especially important that they see how women factor in to the Navy's processes because many foreign militaries do not allow women to serve aboard ships. Bolstering relationships with foreign militaries is a huge part of the Navy's mission, and is something that we can help with here at RTC."

Following their tour of RTC, Garcez and his staff met with his U. S. Navy training counterpart, Rear Adm. Stephan C. Evans, commander, Naval Service Training Command (NSTC), in his headquarters.

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" 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, more than 30,000 recruits graduate annually from RTC and begin their Navy careers.

RTC is overseen by Evans and his NSTC staff, headquartered in Building 1, the historic clock tower building on 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 on NETC, visit www.netc.navy.mil. More news on the Navy's only boot camp, RTC, can be found at http://www.bootcamp.navy.mil/.

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

For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.

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