Photo By Chief Petty Officer Jessica Vargas | Commander John Hiltz, Commanding Officer of Navy Talent Acquisition Group (NTAG)...... read more read more
When it comes to the Navy Recruiting mission of “leveraging an inspirational culture to inform, attract, influence and hire the highest quality future Sailors from America’s diverse talent pool” there is nothing that the NTAG Pacific Northwest team won’t do in the pursuit of mission success, including traveling to the top of the globe to seek out these high-quality individuals.
Commander John P. Hiltz, Commanding Officer of NTAG Pacific Northwest and Engineman First Class Tate Snow, a Navy recruiter stationed at Navy Recruiting Station Fairbanks, recently traveled to Utqiagvik, Alaska, formerly known as Barrow, to speak with the Whalers of Barrow High School about career opportunities in the Navy.
Utqiagvik, located 330 miles north of the Arctic Circle, is the northernmost city in the United States and one of the northernmost towns in the world.
During the visit Cmdr. Hiltz gave a speech to students grades 9-12 where he shared stories about his military experience and spoke about some key tenets of control, community, college, and command.
“I learned a very important lesson at the very beginning of my career while dealing with airsickness, and that was to control the things that are within my control,” Hiltz said. “There are lots of things in life that we can’t control, but we can always control our attitudes, how we treat other people, our energy and effort.”
When speaking on community, Hiltz, who is a former Blue Angels pilot, compared the similarities of the remote Alaskan town with the most critical part of any Blue Angels air show.
“You see the shiny jets doing fancy maneuvers but what you don’t see is the most important part of that show, which is our center point marker,” said Hiltz. “That point anchors a five-mile radius circle in which the air show happens. We always have to know where that center point is no matter how far away we go, no matter what maneuver we are doing, no matter if we are upside down or right side up. We have to know where the center point is. And that is what has endeared me with this community. This is a very centering and anchoring place to be. So no matter how far away you go, and I hope you all get the chance to serve your country, see the world, travel and make a difference in your communities. Home here in Alaska will always be your center point.”
He went on to discuss his next tenet of college and how the Navy helped to make one of his dreams come true as a recipient of the NROTC Program Scholarship.
“I dreamed of a couple of things growing up, and attending the University of Notre Dame and playing basketball was one of them,” says Hiltz. “I was very grateful for the Navy to pay my way to attend my dream school on a full scholarship. That is another opportunity we are here to offer you.”
His last “C” tenet he shared was Command.
“I am lucky to be the commanding officer for all of the Navy recruiting efforts in the Pacific Northwest, and that is what led me here today,” said Hiltz. “I really wanted to demonstrate that we are committed to you. We are going to come to you all the way up here in the north slope of Alaska. We want you. We want the perspective of this group to serve in the Navy because we need it. When I arrived here I was struck by how similar it felt to my career on an aircraft carrier. When the ship pulls away from port the people on the ship are your new community. You rely on each other and everyone has an important role. Whether you are a photographer, culinary specialist, or a barber, that’s your community just like it is here. I think the lessons that you’ve learned here will serve you well and would make a very effective Sailor in the Navy. Those lessons are critical to telling the story of this community. You are the master of your fate. The story that you want to write can be written and we want to help you write it.”
During a surprise moment at the conclusion of his speech, Cmdr. Hiltz meritoriously promoted Petty Officer Snow in front of the assembly.
“One of the privileges that I have as commanding officer is, about twice a year, I get to select somebody on my team and give them an on-the-spot promotion to the next rank. That means more responsibility, more opportunity, and more pay…It’s a real privilege for me, in front of all you here today, to meritoriously promote him to Engineman First Class.”
“I was absolutely speechless,” said Snow. “To be able to visit an amazing community like Barrow and share information on Navy opportunities was already a win for me, but being promoted at the top of the world was an honor.”
| Date Taken: | 04.19.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 04.27.2022 20:01 |
| Story ID: | 419494 |
| Location: | ALASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 174 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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