Coronado, Calif. – Leaders from across Marine Corps Recruiting Command gathered for the annual National Operations and Training Symposium (NOTS) at the Navy Lodge North Island, Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California, from Oct. 16th to Oct. 20th, 2023.
The success of the Marine Corps depends heavily on the steady flow of new recruits ready to take on the rigors of recruit training and earn the title, Marine. The recruiters responsible for finding tomorrow’s Marines are imperative to the future of the Corps.
NOTS afforded leaders from across the enterprise the opportunity to share information, discuss new ideas and make recommendations regarding recruiting tactics. The symposium was established in 1981to recognize Marine Corps Recruiting Stations that achieve or exceed specified recruiting goals during the previous fiscal year.
“The importance of NOTS is really getting together all the recruiting station commanding officers and above in the nation, and leveling the force, providing training and ensuring that everybody understands the Marine Corps Recruiting Command’s commanding general’s guidance going into the next fiscal year, and recognizing the efforts from last fiscal year as well,” said Master Gunnery Sgt. David Granillo, training team chief for the 12th Marine Corps District. Some topics covered during the symposium include: the national, regional and local level marketing strategy, recruiting station commanding officer’s responsibilities and recruiting operations current state and plan going forward.
As part of the symposium, all recruiting station commanding officers attended the Superior Achiever Award ceremony. This ceremony recognizes the recruiting stations and their personnel for going above and beyond in their performance during the previous fiscal year. This year, 38 out of 54 recruiting stations met the standards of Superior Achiever, and their respective commanding officers were presented the award by the ceremony’s Guest of Honor.
This year’s Guest of Honor was Gen. Eric M. Smith, 39th Commandant of the Marine Corps. As part of the ceremony, Smith handed out awards to the recruiting station commanding officers from each of the six Marine Corps Recruiting Districts.
“It's a challenging recruiting environment, but our recruiters are professionals and provide the example of what right looks like. My job, as well as SgtMaj Ruiz' and all our leadership, is to recognize our recruiters any chance we can, because they are out there in every zip code, getting it done every day. I'm proud of every one of them." said Smith about the significance of recognizing Marine Corps recruiters for their efforts.
After the ceremony, Smith answered any questions the Marines had and talked to them about the future of the Marine Corps.
Date Taken: | 10.19.2023 |
Date Posted: | 10.26.2023 12:37 |
Story ID: | 456458 |
Location: | CORONADO, CALIFORNIA, US |
Hometown: | CORONADO, CALIFORNIA, US |
Web Views: | 115 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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