PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Leaders from across the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) domain gathered to discuss a variety of issues and priorities for the MyNavy HR Force Development team during a spring off-site meeting at Naval Air Station Pensacola, March 1-2.
Leadership from Navy Recruiting Command (NRC), Naval Service Training Command (NSTC), NETC learning centers, Naval Education and Training Professional Development Center, Naval Education and Training Security Assistance Field Activity, and other stakeholders joined with NETC headquarters staff at the offsite.
Rear Adm. Pete Garvin, NETC commander, commenced the event by discussing the recently released Force Development strategic plan and his updated Commander’s Intent, which underscores the Chief of Naval Operations’ (CNO) priorities and keeps the focus on Sailors, readiness, capabilities and capacity. He encouraged the more than 80 leaders in attendance to incorporate the CNO’s “Get Real, Get Better” learning mindset as they tackled a complex range of aspects of the “street to fleet” mission of recruiting, training and delivering combat-ready warfighters to the fleet.
“Today and tomorrow are the ‘get real’ part, being really introspective, taking a hard look at ourselves and each other and calling it like it is…being honest with ourselves, self-reflective, self-assessing and then most importantly self-correcting,” said Garvin.
He challenged the leaders to focus on outcomes with the “Fleet Readiness Starts Here” motto always in mind.
Rear Adm. Dennis Velez, NRC’s commander, provided a recruiting update. With the U.S. Navy competing in an unprecedented labor market, he discussed the various efforts underway to increase interest in military service with the nation’s youth, including recognizing influential teachers and college professors for their roles and new Sailors who inspire friends to consider joining the service.
Rear Adm. Jennifer Couture, NSTC’s commander, outlined how Warrior Toughness is being institutionalized throughout the fleet and how diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are working to remove systemic barriers to creating a future force representative of the nation. She shared how Recruit Training Command has lengthened boot camp to 10 weeks, to include an expanded curriculum that focuses more on professional development and the lethality of the basically trained Sailor, with an eventual goal of every graduate being basically qualified in firefighting, damage control, and small arms.
The leaders heard updates from NETC staff on the latest progress with moving to the next-generation learning management and assessment systems. Aligned with the Chief of Naval Personnel’s Transformation initiatives to modernize and consolidate IT systems, the new training systems will replace current IT tools such as Navy eLearning and also support Ready Relevant Learning (RRL).
An RRL status brief addressed the progress to date, with eight ratings currently delivered with improved training, and the expected delivery of an additional six ratings this fiscal year. The aim of RRL is to provide modernized, on-demand, fleet-responsive learning for the Navy’s enlisted ratings. RRL is a long-term investment in improving individual Sailor performance and enhancing fleet readiness by addressing the when, how and where Sailors are trained.
NETC staff also updated leaders on the multi-layered “shipping” mission. Shipping starts with recruits reporting to boot camp through reporting to their first assignment. This monumental effort requires methodical coordination across multiple stakeholders for more than 33,000 recruits this fiscal year. The primary objective is the on-time delivery of those Sailors to the fleet.
Additionally, participants were provided presentations on the science of learning, centennials and the Navy, and then attendees broke out into small group sessions to deep-dive into various topics, including RRL, shipping, instructor manning, learning standards, future IT solutions for training, and pay and personnel support.
“We should always be learning. We should always be optimizing. We should always be looking at how we can do things better,” said Garvin at the conclusion.
He thanked the leaders for the energy they brought to examining tough, multifaceted issues, which will better serve the fleet.
NETC’s mission is to recruit and hire talented civilians, deliver training and education to transform civilians into Sailors and distribute accession Sailors to the fleet to maximize readiness and ensure mission success; to provide specialized training and educational tools to advance the personal and professional development of Sailors throughout their career; and serve as sole claimant for individual training and education and as the principal advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations and Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command on training and education related matters.
For more information about NETC, visit the command’s website at
https://www.netc.navy.mil/ and follow MyNavy HR: