Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Nikita Custer | 220619-N-PW480-0452 GREAT LAKES, Ill. (June 19, 2022) – Naval Reserve Officers...... read more read more
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GREAT LAKES, Ill. – Naval Service Training Command (NSTC) hosted more than 1,000 incoming college students from across the United States for Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) New Student Indoctrination (NSI) during three cycles at Recruit Training Command (RTC), June 10 – Aug. 8.
NSI is designed to provide consistent basic military and uniform training not available at host universities. Each cycle consisted of more than 400 midshipman candidates. U.S. Marine Corps Drill Instructors, staff officers, newly-commissioned ensigns and current midshipmen from various NROTC units made up the training staff along with Recruit Division Commanders (RDCs) from RTC .
“NSI’s indoctrination curriculum is standardized, yet much more extensive and intense than any I’ve seen before,” said Rear Adm. Jennifer Couture, NSTC commander. “I myself was once a NROTC midshipman but did not have a standardized program like NSI to begin my NROTC experience. Seeing their transformation makes me wish I had an experience like theirs to start my naval career.”
The NSI indoctrination program uses the facilities at RTC to provide the new midshipmen with a standardized military training orientation. NSI provides basic training in five warfighting fundamentals – firefighting, damage control, seamanship, watchstanding, small arms handling and marksmanship – to create basically trained and disciplined future Navy and Marine Corps officers.
NSI began in 2018 with a pilot program that trained 70 midshipmen candidates. NSI 2022 produced the highest number of midshipmen in the program’s history.
“NSI has been great,” said U.S. Navy Capt. Jeff Lamphear, Cycle 2 Officer-In-Charge (OIC) and NROTC commanding officer and professor of Naval Science at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. “Everyone has been very motivated, very positive and they put together great effort to grow and be able to achieve the goal of getting a commission in the Navy and Marine Corps.”
Each cycle’s OIC, assistant OIC, and senior enlisted leader were responsible for overseeing the training of the midshipmen candidates and providing guidance to the midshipmen instructors, drill instructors and RDCs.
Command Senior Chief Shaun Kestner, the senior enlisted advisor for NSI Cycle 1 and command senior chief for the NROTC unit at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., said his unit staff has seen many benefits having midshipmen attend NSI over the past four years.
“With NSI now being in its fourth year, we have seen the benefits of the training almost compound on one another,” Kestner said. “That is because they are developing their leadership fundamentals. They also have a greater understanding of the Navy and Marine Corps prior to actually entering into the collegiate system. This enables us as part of NROTC staff to build upon those leadership fundamentals and to continue the development of core competencies; damage control, firefighting, weapons handling, navigation and line handling.”
The NSI training for each of the three cycles was approximately 18 days to incorporate additional training including Warrior Toughness that imbues the warrior mindset in future Navy and Marine Corps officers.
“I was stressed out and running on straight adrenaline almost the entire time,” said Midshipman 4th Class Sarah McCormack, from Plymouth, Mass. “I was surprised how quickly I was able to adapt to a very stressful environment and I really ended up loving my time at NSI. I also loved the physical fitness training at NSI and can’t wait to share some of the things I learned, like accountability, with my unit in San Diego.”
NROTC is overseen by Commander, Naval Service Training Command (NSTC), Rear Adm. Jennifer Couture and her staff. NSTC oversees 98 percent of initial officer and enlisted accessions training for the Navy, including NROTC units at more than 160 colleges and universities; Officer Training Command (OTC) at Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island; Recruit Training Command (RTC) at Naval Station Great Lakes, as well as Navy Junior ROTC (NJROTC) and Navy National Defense Cadet Corps (NNDCC).
NROTC was established to develop midshipmen mentally, morally and physically. The program also imbues in them the highest ideals of duty, loyalty and Navy core values in order to commission college graduates as Naval officers who possess a basic professional background, are motivated toward careers in the Naval service and have a potential for future development in mind and character so as to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.
For more information on NROTC visit: https://www.netc.navy.mil/NSTC/NROTC/
To view updates from NSI, follow us at: https://www.facebook.com/NavalReserveOfficersTrainingCorps/.
To see more NSI images and videos click onto the following link to the NSTC Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (dvids) page: https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/NSTC/.
For more information about NSTC, visit https://www.netc.navy.mil/NSTC/
| Date Taken: | 08.08.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 08.23.2022 10:14 |
| Story ID: | 427789 |
| Location: | GREAT LAKES, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 614 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NSTC Hosts Three Cycles of NROTC New Student Indoctrination, by Scott Thornbloom, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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