Aviation Electrician's Mate 1st Class Kyla Richardson was recently named the Naval Service Training Command (NSTC) Senior Sailor of the Year (SOY).

Richardson, a native of White Plains, N. Y., and a Recruit Division Commander (RDC) at Recruit Training Command (RTC) participated in a rigorous evaluation process that took into consideration characteristics such as professional knowledge, military bearing, teamwork, education and professional development, and oral presentation when they are interviewed by a selection board.

"Excellence should be recognized at all levels," said RTC Command Master Chief Shawn Isbell. "The Sailor of the Year program gives the command the opportunity to shine a spotlight on outstanding performances. By recognizing hard work and dedication, Sailors are given an example to emulate. Each award (SOY) winner represents the standard at RTC. Although recognized as the top performers, the competition is tight at RTC. I would like to think that they are the standard and not the exception."

Richardson said she was grateful to be named NSTC's Senior SOY recipient.

"This is a humbling experience and I want to thank God for this opportunity and for allowing me to get this far with my peers. I want to thank my peers, my chain of command and everyone I work with and work for," said Richardson. "Being at RTC is a wonderful opportunity to help lead the future of the Navy. When you first get here, it may seem difficult, but once you see your recruits graduate across that deck, that's when you realize how great of an experience you can have here."

RTC is manned by hand selected, highly skilled Sailors from the fleet to train the Navy's future Sailors.

Along with Richardson being named as the NSTC Senior SOY, other NSTC Sailors nominated were: Damage Controlman 1st Class Christopher M. Tillman, Officer Training Command (OTC) in Newport, R. I.; and Musician 1st Class Jesse D. Carmona, Navy Band Great Lakes.

The NSTC Junior Sailor of the Year (JSOY) is Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Jonathan L. Jacobs, RTC. Also nominated were Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Carmen W. Rabassa, OTC Newport and Musician 2nd Class Michael F. Caracciolo from Navy Band Great Lakes.

NSTC, commanded by Rear Adm. Stephen C. Evans, oversees 98 percent of initial officer and enlisted accessions training for the Navy, as well as the Navy's Citizenship Development program. NSTC includes RTC, the Navy's only boot camp at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) units at more than 160 colleges and universities, OTC Newport, 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 information about NSTC, visit http://www.netc.navy.mil/nstc/ or visit the NSTC Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/NavalServiceTraining/.

RTC is primarily responsible for conducting the initial orientation and training of new recruits. The command is commonly is 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, firefighting and shipboard damage control and 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 now the Navy's only basic training location, and is known as "The Quarterdeck of the Navy." Today, more than 38,000 recruits graduate annually from RTC and begin their Navy careers.

For more information about RTC, visit http://www.bootcamp.navy.mil/. Or learn more at the Navy's only boot camp at http://bootcamp.navy.mil or find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NavyRecruitTrainingCommand/.


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