US Navy Recruit Training Command - Keel Yearbook (Great Lakes, IL)

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iRPOc ng Bags THE COMPANY COMMAN DE R. . . . is an outstanding chief or first class petty officer who has been selected as part of the corps of company com- manders at Great Lakes. Prior to pick- ing up his first company, he has been trained in techniques of instruction, principles of leadership, and admin- istrative procedures in schools at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, both at Service School Command and at Recruit Training Command. The company commander instructs his recruits how to keep themselves, their clothing, their equipment, and their living quarters in a smart and ship- shape manner while he leads them in military and physical drill so that they gain military proficiency and physical stamina. He also helps them to ex- ercise increasing amounts of individual and group responsibility as they grow in the qualities of self-discipline nec- essary to carry out the exacting routines of life as men of the United States Navy. The company commander is gen- uinely interested in the needs, welfare, and problems of the recruits he com- mands. He must be formal yet friendly so that though he is fully and firmly in control, the recruits do not have to hesitate to approach him for his as- sistance with their problems or for his referral to the appropriate member of the Navy's professional corps: The chaplain, the medical officer, or the legal officer. The company commander, most of all, is an inspiring example of the suc- cessful Navyman upon whom the recruits can pattern their own lives as sailors and as citizens.

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AT The CompIeTion of processing, The men are formed inTo companies, assigned a company com- mander, and begin The primary phase of Their Train- ing aTTer moving To Their nevv home aT RecrUiT Training Command. D, Company Commander Picks RPOC . 'Jr' f X J ' x ..4 rg. N J li-,.-Lv 1' 1 Forming Up To Leave Camp Barry Leaving Camp Barry EnTering RTC Through Tunnel . -Ai V Loading Bags 'T ll., :5?'?1svf ' LJ!! E

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BARRACKS LIFE One of the more important lessons the recruit learns during boot camp is how to live with others in a military organization. Life and living conditions in the Navy differ so greatly from anything he has known in civilian life that learning to live in close quarters as a member of a military group becomes a maior function of recruit training. The barracks is not only a place to sleep and to stow clothes, but it is the most important class- room. Here, the recruit learns by doing. The scrub- bing of clothes, the cleaning of the barracks, and the constant inspections all serve but one purpose- to prepare him for a successful life during his tour in the Navy. Quarter Deck BRT l