Ten Navy Reserve Sailors assigned to Coastal Riverine Squadron 1 took the next step in their Navy careers together, by reenlisting as a group May 1 at Naval Air Station North Island.

The mass reenlistment aims to prevent issues the Sailors may have encountered if their contracts ran out while serving a scheduled one-year unit mobilization planned for early 2017.

"We have 144 folks that'll be split between the Middle East and Africa and by doing this we can synchronize all of their End of Active Obligated Service dates prior to them going on mobilizations so that their EAOS doesn't expire while they're on mobilization," said CORIVRON Squadron 1 Commanding Officer, Capt. Joaquin J. Martinez de Pinillos. "We thought that this was a great way to get them to start understanding the unit that they're becoming as they get ready to mobilize."

Personnel Specialist 1st Class Maria Sandoval, CORIVRON 1 command career counselor said the unit wanted to ensure that all of the Reservists were taken care of while they were on active duty.

"We're getting ready now so they won't have any issues while they're doing the mission, so that they won't have to worry about anything else," she said.

Although the ceremony moved the unit one step closer to mobilization, participating Sailors were excited to be part of the unique event.

"Since I'm getting ready to go on a mobilization and my reenlistment's coming up next year, why not go ahead and knock it out and get it done and over with," said Engineman 1st Class Jeremiah Miller. "It's a fun and interesting way to reenlist."

While mobilized, some CORIVRON 1 Sailors will provide force protection on patrol boats to vessels pulling in to the Horn of Africa and some will augment an active duty Coastal Riverine Squadron that's going to mobilize, said Martinez de Pinillos.

Others will be assigned to Military Sealift Command ships to provide force protection and security for those ships as they transit the Arabian Gulf.

"It's wonderful that we're able to get them started on the process of mobilizing this way," said Martinez de Pinillos. "I've never seen a reenlistment done quite like this."

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