Navy Boot Camp Company Commander

Company 61-493 Commander R E Discoe BM1

The Company Commander is an outstanding chief or first class petty officer who has been selected as part of the corps of company commanders at Great Lakes.

Prior to "picking up" his first company, he has been trained in techniques of instruction, principles of leadership, and administrative 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 exercise increasing amounts of individual and group responsibility as they grow in the qualities of self-discipline necessary to carry out the exacting routines of life as men of the United States Navy.

The company commander is genuinely interested in the needs, welfare, and problems of the recruits he commands. 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 assistance 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 successful Navyman upon whom the recruits can pattern their own lives as sailors and as citizens.