In two previous posts, I chronicled my path from boot camp through Navy Nuclear Power School, and then from graduation from prototype to my time spent aboard USS Sandlance (SSN660). Today’s post will be the final installment of this series and will follow my path from Sandlance to recruiting duty and the end of my Navy career. This is my picture from my first day on recruiting duty at NRD Atlanta!
Recruiting Duty:
Why go to recruiting duty after spending 6 years going through nuclear power training and qualifying aboard a submarine? It was a little strange, I guess, but I had been aboard Sandlance from October 1985 – August 1989. In May 1988, Sandlance went into the shipyards in Portsmouth, NH, leaving Charleston, SC.
I married the lovely and adorable Lana in July 1988 and moved her and my daughter Laura to Dover, NH. We spent a year there, but it was time to move on to something else. Lana and I wanted to head back to the warmer world of the South, and recruiting duty seemed like a good fit. I requested the transfer and it was granted! Below is my recommendation from my CO.
Recruiting School:
The first part of recruiting duty consisted off 5 weeks of training in Orlando. The coursework was not difficult – especially compared to the previous regimen I experienced in Orlando, but it was challenging in its own way. One of the more awkward training sequences was making cold calls. Anyone who has been in most any kind of sales knows about cold calling. Basically, you have a list of phone numbers and a script and you call someone at random and try to convince them to buy your product. Memorizing the script was pretty easy, but trying to stay on script with people who didn’t want to talk to you was difficult. It did help to develop a thick skin, which was a necessary trait for a recruiter, and one that I still use today in my role as a global supply chain manager.
The 5 weeks flew by and I graduated and was selected as “Most Likely To Succeed” by my classmates. I was surprised and humbled by the honor! Here is my award!
NRS Americus, GA:
My duty station was Naval Recruiting District Atlanta and my office the Naval Recruiting Station Americus. For those who don’t know where Americus is, it is in South Georgia about 30 miles from Albany and about 10 miles from Plains, GA (home of former President Jimmy Carter). If you have ever gone down I 75 and turned at exit 101 in Cordele, you were at the eastern edge of my recruiting territory. The western edge was at the Alabama line in Stewart County. I had 9 high schools to visit monthly, so I logged a huge amount of windshield time!! One thing about recruiting duty is the awards you get. The recruiting world is very keen on recognition! I added a few pictures of awards I received further down in the post and pictures of my recruiting badge (rookie cookie and with gold star) and business card.
Interestingly enough, recruiting duty helped me decide on my college major. Georgia Southwestern State University is located in Americus, and happened to be right on my way home. It seemed only natural to go to school there and, given that recruiting is part of the Human Resources function in most places, HR Management became my major. That is probably about as diametrically opposite to nuclear power as one can get!
A day in the life:
What did I do while on recruiting duty? Besides logging the windshield time, I did my high school visits, and made the required cold calls. I filled out tons of paperwork and ran waivers on kids that needed them. Mostly, I tried to present an accurate picture of what the Navy was all about. I know the reputation that recruiters have for telling potential recruits whatever was necessary to get them to sign on the dotted line, but I didn’t do that (as every recruiter in the world will tell you). Seriously, I didn’t!
My recruits:
Over the three and a half years of recruiting duty, of all the people I sent to boot camp and only two of them didn’t make it through. One broke an ankle and the other caught pneumonia. Of all of the kids I recruited only three didn’t go to boot camp, so I had a pretty good track record. Below is one of my Delayed Entry Program (DEP) Management Awards.
For you submarine sailors out there, you know the cup, but we had a couple of cups, too!
I have to recount one story, though. During a visit to one of my favorite high schools, I set up my table at lunch to talk to kids while they were in the cafeteria. Across from me was a Marine Gunny Sergeant, all decked out in his dress blues. I was wearing my normal winter blues, so I was definitely out dressed.
Anyway, this kid asked the gunny what all his ribbons meant and all was fine until the gunny pointed to his sea service ribbon (with 3 stars) and told the kid it was some kind of Marine Corps ribbon. I couldn’t take it and told the gunny to tell the kid the truth. The gunny gave me a cold stare, but the kid noticed that I had the ribbon, too (with no stars). He asked me what it was and I told him. The kid got mad because the Marine was lying to him. The Marine was mad at me because he thought he lost a recruit, and I just smiled! I think the kid eventually went into the Air Force.
My recruiting style:
That was the way I conducted my time as a recruiter. I would tell the kids that, based on their ASVAB scores, they qualified for certain jobs, although I couldn’t guarantee that job. I drove most of them to Atlanta, and waited while they went through physicals and job classification. Afterwards, I drove them home, encouraged them to tell their friends about me and the Navy, and monitored them until they departed for boot camp. Many of my recruits came back to work for me for a week after boot camp and enthusiastically spoke to former classmates and friends about their Navy experiences.
While on recruiting duty, I finished my degree (which the Navy mostly paid for), and was a walking poster child for getting an education while serving on active duty. Since school was on the way home, I often wore my uniform to class. That generated a lot of leads and conversations – especially when people found out that I served aboard submarines! I did nuclear power lectures for math and science classes. Once I had to speak extemporaneously for an hour during a school club day! Like I said, while not as academically challenging as nuke school, recruiting duty taught me a lot. I still use the presentation skills in my job today.
The end of my Navy career:
I wanted to go back to sea after recruiting duty and planned to go to King’s Bay, GA on a missile boat. However, when I called my detailer, he told me I could go to Bremerton, WA or Pearl Harbor, HI. I told him that he forgot option 3….see ya! I had recently graduated with my degree in HR. My wife was in graduate school and my daughter a junior in high school. Uprooting them was out of the question. August 23, 1993, a little over 10 years from my date of enlistment, I left the Navy with an honorable discharge. I headed out into the civilian world, my Navy career at an end.
Post Navy:
I never worked in HR after I got my degree. I’ve spent most of my post-Navy career working in the human and animal pharmaceutical business in supply chain. I completed a master’s degree in Management and have had a great life. I’m happily married to my amazing wife, Lana. I have an amazing daughter, and two incredible grandchildren. I’ve written four books (The Gemstone Chronicles series). I’m starting my fifth book. I learned to hunt for gemstones, and prospect for gold. I generally enjoy my life!
What might have been:
I do occasionally wonder what would have happened had I stayed in the Navy. If I had, I probably would have applied for OCS, and who knows where that may have led? I miss the guys from the boat (not the boat so much), and stay connected with quite a few of them. All told, my Navy career was a formative time and it remains firmly entrenched in everything I do!
Did any of you readers spend time as a recruiter? If so, leave me a comment and let me know how your experience was. If you served in any branch of military, did your recruiter tell you the truth? Did you know what to expect when you enlisted? I’m always interested to hear stories about recruiting duty or tales of the wrong and right actions of recruiters.
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I think we crossed paths (a lot), Airdale named Bryant was our Command MC. and Scott was our Area boss. I was in Columbus and Albany.
Hi Mike! I couldn’t remember the MC’s name, but I do remember when he got on to all of us for driving our G-Cars too fast. After that lecture, I followed him down I 75 at about 90 mph.
I do remember SC Sutton! He was a good guy. I liked him a lot better than SC Dunlap who replaced him.
I actually worked with Skip Wright from Albany after he got retried. We both worked at the Merck facility in Albany!
Great to reconnect. What are you up to these days?
Let me tell you about being a boot pusher! When I got orders to NTC San Diego I was NOT happy. But, in that three years I learned more about leadership than during my previous 9 years of service. After completing 27 years of service (mostly within the submarine force) I was not afraid to ace any job that was offered.
Hi Fred! I can’t imagine what pushing boots would have been liked. I know that I wouldn’t have chosen that route. Recruiting duty was pretty good to me, though.
You must be a hero. I qualified on 660 in 73. My 2 encounters with recruiters were when I enlisted in 70 and in 85 when my wife and I were on vacation in Orlando and she struck up a conversation with 6 sailors staying at the Howard Johnsons we were. Naturally they all had to take a shot at recruiting me. I really enjoyed chewing on their asses.
Hi Frank! First, let me say it is an honor to connect with another SandLance sailor! As for the hero part, not me. I just couldn’t stand the idea of telling kids lies like that. I wasn’t selling them a vacuum cleaner or something like that. It was a life-changing event and I always thought they should have all the information I could give them. My recruiter did that for me.
I understand the guys in Orlando trying to recruit you, though. It gets ingrained. I still use some of what I learned as a recruiter when I do job interviews in my current job.
Good stuff my friend!
I did both Company Commander and Recruiter duty- in fact, I was pushing boots in Orlando while you were recruiting. Overall my tour as a CC was more rewarding for me- I enjoyed recruiting, but not recruiting duty. I can sum up my dislike for the duty in 3 letters- CRF. The Career Recruiting Force was an absolute Mafia- I watched them eviscerate one of their own and toss him to the wolves- imagine how they treated non-CRF recruiters! I was NF Coordinator for my district and as such, saw everything happening in the district. Like you, I despised the thought of lying to applicants. It worked ok for nuke recruiting- the kids with a propensity to enlist nuke thrived on the challenge.
Overall, I don’t regret either shore tour- I learned a lot about myself in both jobs.
Chuck, I don’t know if I could have done the CC tour. I know what you mean about the CRF guys. They were indeed a vicious bunch of sailors. We had a NF Coordinator, but I would rather go to my schools and talk to the kids rather than have my NF guy come down. He was a good guy, but I knew my schools and didn’t want someone else in there screwing up what I built. I enjoyed both recruiting and recruiting duty, but it was the getting out and meeting people that l liked best!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experience!! What are you doing now?
I’m a maintenance and technical instructor at a nuke plant north of Columbia, SC. I didn’t really plan to re-enter the nuclear world after my career came to an end (I did 26 years), but the first job I chose didn’t pan out so well. I worked at a paper mill as an instrument electrician analyst. I couldn’t handle the way those guys did their work- It worked for them, but being a nuke it was so foreign to me. Overall, I’m pretty happy now.
Good for you, Chuck. I am lucky to have found a home in the pharmaceutical world. Similar to the nuke industry, it is highly regulated and things have to be done according to procedure and protocols – familiar territory! Do you happen to work with Mike Zaccone at your plant? He was an officer on my boat.