F E AT U R E
Changing
LIVES Buckeye’s Cassandra Pietz is now a recruiter
BY JOHN P. CURTIS Mass Communication Specialist, 1st Class NTAG Phoenix Public Affairs
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ine years ago, Cassandra Pietz started her Navy journey out of Buckeye. Pietz, now 29, she has since returned to her home state of Arizona as a Navy recruiter. Pietz enlisted in the Navy in 2012 as a machinist’s mate, and after her tour on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68), she decided to become a recruiter at Navy Talent Acquisition Group (NTAG) Phoenix’s Talent Acquisition Station (TAS) Flagstaff. “I am very outgoing and have a bubbly personality, and I wanted to use that to inspire and talk to people about how the Navy changed my life,” Pietz says. “I’m hoping to inspire others and help them change their lives.” Before joining the Navy, she was going to college and working, but that wasn’t enough for her. “I was just going through the motions of working and going to school, but I wasn’t really going in any direction,” she says. Though her family members had served in other branches of the military, Pietz wanted to be the first to join the Navy, which is what drove her to seek out a recruiter and change her life. “The Navy has given me perspective on what I want,” Pietz says. “I decided I wanted to finish school and start a family, and I’ve done that now. The Navy has allowed me and my husband to move to Arizona to be with our families, and it has now given me the opportunity to stay here as a hometown recruiter in Flagstaff, where I can raise my daughter and still help the Navy mission.” Even with her hometown of Buckeye being 150 miles away, some of her family is close by, and she gets to share her Navy experience with them. “It’s really nice being here with my family, and even though I don’t see them every day, it is nice to be close to them,” Pietz says. “It’s super cool because they are always wondering what I’m up to, and I’ll bring them in the office and show them around.”
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Sound of Freedom | JULY/AUGUST 2021
Navy Counselor (Recruiter) 1st Class Cassandra Pietz, assigned to Talent Acquisition Station Flagstaff, was recently honored as a Recruiter in the Spotlight. (U.S. Navy photo/released)
Since beginning her recruiting tour in 2016, Pietz has contributed to TAS Flagstaff receiving Small Station of the Year four years in a row. She has also been awarded Naval Special Operations/Naval Special Warfare Recruiter of the Year, earned a promotion to petty officer first class and converted her job rating to Navy counselor (recruiter). She humbly credits her early successes to the team she’s worked with including her former supervisor whose spot she now fills since he transferred. “I had great leadership and a great leading petty officer, and he trained me very well,” Pietz says. “He was really motivating, and it just made me want to be out all of the time and talk to people. He prepared me well, and I try to do the same for the recruiters I work with now.” When asked about the people she has recruited or helped recruit, she proudly points to two large boards in her office filled with 60 photos of sailors now serving the Navy. “I truly love this job and love getting to meet all types of people and getting to hear their stories and about their lives.” Navy Recruiting Command consists of a command headquarters, three Navy Recruiting Regions and 26 Navy Talent Acquisition Groups that serve more than 1,000 recruiting stations across the world. Their combined goal is to attract the highest quality candidates to assure the ongoing success of America’s Navy.
