Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARMC) was awarded the annual Retention Excellence Award for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 by Naval Sea Systems Command.

As a result of winning the award, MARMC can fly the Retention Excellence pennant and paint their anchor gold until the release of the following FY award announcement.

The Retention Excellence Award recognizes commands whose policies and programs best enable their Sailors to succeed in their Navy careers, and directly supports the concept of "Brilliant on the Basics."

"This was a total team effort and I couldn't be more proud of my department, divisional and career counselors," said Chief Navy Counselor Katie Whitestone. "We have counselors interacting with Sailors in the shops daily, which allows us to better get them the help they need. We provide training to our counselors regularly, which helps keep them up to date on the most recent changes. We have career development training monthly, which brings all of our counselors together where we talk about what programs and policies have changed and what effects they could have on our Sailors."

The training and constant interaction that MARMC's career counselors provide to the command's Sailors is a direct reflection of them winning this award. MARMC met or exceeded all of the minimum requirement criteria in order to compete for this award. For example, MARMC needed to meet at least an 85 percent compliance for the Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) Act of 2011 and MARMC's VOW compliance was 94 percent for all transitioning Sailors.

"That's just one example of the really great work that everyone here put in, and it's paying off," said Whitestone.

This accomplishment did not go unnoticed, as Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command Vice Adm. Thomas Moore shared in his praise for the hard work put in by our Navy's career counselors.

"These commands have successfully implemented and maintained Sailor programs that form the foundation of a successful retention effort," said Moore. "These programs, when properly implemented and executed, are a strategic investment in our Navy's future. Congratulations and well done!"

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For more news from Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center, visit www.navy.mil/.