Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Kyle Hafer | 181019-N-JH668-0006 WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (October 19, 2018) Fire Controlman...... read more read more
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MILLINGTON, Tenn. (NNS) – Being in the military means there will be trying times that can test any individual’s grit, character and motivation. Hollywood has portrayed many heroic Sailors such as John Paul Jones or Master Diver Carl Brashear in the peak action of their lives, but these sea stories about Sailors’ adventures and victories can leave many of the small challenges unspoken.
Sailors can be asked to extend their working hours, stand long duty assignments and put in more effort than they originally expected the job to require. However, embracing these challenges is a vital part of recruiting the future Sailors for the Navy the nation needs.
The Fiscal Year-2019 accession goal is to bring in 44,000 Future Sailors. This is a 6,000 person increase from last year, but hasn’t discouraged dedicated recruiters like Fire Controlman 1st Class Tanner McCaskell, who have embraced that challenge with perseverance and determination.
“Our recruiting station was going through a turnover of personnel, and recruiters were rotating back out to the fleet before their replacements were scheduled to arrive,” said McCaskell. “This is expected, after all, we are Sailors and the fleet needs to be manned.”
A Wheaton, Minnesota native, McCaskell works as a recruiter at Navy Recruiting Station Winston-Salem, which is part of Navy Recruiting District Raleigh.
McCaskell knew it would be a challenge when his two colleagues transferred, but he met it head on by recruiting 21 Future Sailors within the three-month period of his coworkers being gone. Essentially, McCaskell did the work typically asked of three people, but he wasn’t alone.
“I had a lot of support from my divisional chief and LPO [leading petty officer] to allow me to do things my way and [they] trusted in me to succeed.”
McCaskell did succeed. With almost two years of recruiting experience, he has an above average total of 75 people who he has personally brought into the Navy. With McCaskell’s dedication to the recruiting mission, his respective station is excelling in all fields.
“NRS Winston-Salem is the top performing station of the year for Navy Recruiting District Raleigh, and I plan to maintain that,” said McCaskell. “When the new recruiters that have recently checked-in are comfortable and on their own, I hope to assume the leading petty officer role and continue to mentor Future Sailors while leading my station to continued success.”
McCaskell won’t have to keep up the high-pace work of three people forever; in fact, relief has arrived, easing the workflow and inspiring new expectations.
“We have a new second class petty officer that I am helping teach the ways of recruiting,” said McCaskell. “We have another recruiter inbound scheduled to check in late November.”
While McCaskell says he is glad to see light at the end of this tunnel, he knows that he grew stronger during the extra duty.
“You have to cover-down for each other,” McCaskell said. “Sometimes the job gets hard and you need help, so you step in and cover-down to keep the job moving forward. Ships have to sail, and workers have to work, so you take care of each other. That’s all I am doing. I’m taking care of my recruiting station while team-members are out. It’s what makes you strong, and it’s what makes me a Sailor.”
McCaskell says he really enjoys being a recruiter. Although he misses being on a ship and the camaraderie felt between Sailors out to sea, he looks forward to being able to share that lifestyle with the civilians he meets every day.
“I miss the Fleet and the feeling that only a U.S. Navy ship can provide, but I intend on converting to a career recruiter,” said McCaskell. “I love supplying the Navy with its next generation of Sailors, and seeing their careers grow from their civilian lives to their Navy lives. No matter what, I'm excited to see where it takes me.”
The Navy’s recruiting force totals over 6,100 personnel in more than 1,000 recruiting stations around the globe. Their combined goal is to attract the highest quality candidates to assure the ongoing success of America’s Navy.
NRC consists of a command headquarters, two Navy Recruiting Regions, 20 Navy Recruiting Districts and six Navy Talent Acquisition Groups that serve more than 1,000 recruiting stations across the country.
For more news from Commander, Navy Recruiting Command, go to http://www.cnrc.navy.mil. Follow Navy Recruiting on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NavyRecruiting), Twitter (@USNRecruiter) and Instagram (@USNRecruiter).
| Date Taken: | 10.19.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 10.19.2018 17:50 |
| Story ID: | 297113 |
| Location: | TENNESSEE, US |
| Web Views: | 391 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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