Senior Chief Petty Officer Przemek Krysinski and Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Snow, the oldest and youngest Sailors present, make the first cut to the Navy birthday cake during a celebration Oct. 13, 2020, at a Fort McCoy, Wis., dining facility. U.S. Navy Recruit Training Command is currently using barracks at Fort McCoy as quarantine space for its new recruits. Recruits quarantine for two weeks before beginning their basic training to reduce the chances of an outbreak of COVID-19 during training. Recruits and their instructors follow social distancing and preventative guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during their stay at Fort McCoy. (U.S. Army Photo by Aimee Malone, Public Affairs Office, Fort McCoy, Wis.)

U.S. Navy Sailors and recruits, along with Fort McCoy Garrison command team personnel, celebrated the 245th Navy birthday with a cake-cutting ceremony at lunchtime Oct. 13 at Fort McCoy.

U.S. Navy Recruit Training Command is currently using barracks at Fort McCoy as quarantine space for its new recruits.

Recruits quarantine for two weeks before beginning their basic training to reduce the chances of an outbreak of COVID-19 during training. Recruits and their instructors follow social distancing and preventative guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during their stay at Fort McCoy.

The celebration included a brief history of the Navy presented by Senior Chief Petty Officer Przemek Krysinski. The Department of the Navy was established Oct. 13, 1775, by the Continental Congress at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. A thorough history of the U.S. Navy is available online at www.history.navy.mil.

Lt. Col. Alexander Carter, deputy garrison commander, and Command Sgt. Major. Paul Mantha, garrison command sergeant major, with the Fort McCoy Garrison command team also attended the celebration.

U.S. Navy Recruit Training Command instructors thanked the Fort McCoy command team and staff members for their assistance in ensuring training could continue despite the restrictions put in place by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Afterward, the oldest and youngest Sailors present — Krysinski and Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Snow, respectively — ceremonially cut the cake before dining facility staff members cut and served the rest of the cake. Having the oldest and youngest service members cut the cake is a military tradition.

More than 40,000 recruits train annually at the Navy’s only boot camp. This is also the first time Fort McCoy has supported the Navy in this capacity.

Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”

Learn more about the Navy’s Recruiting Training Command by visiting https://www.bootcamp.navy.mil.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”