Sterling native named commander of Navy recruitment group

Cmdr. Jason Nelson, a Sterling native, is piped ashore for the first time as commanding officer of Navy Talent Acquisition Group Heartland during the NTAG Heartland change of command ceremony at the Yankee Air Museum in Van Buren Township, Michigan, on March 11, 2022. NTAG Heartland is responsible for the Navy’s enlisted and officer recruiting, covering nearly 140,000 square miles of Michigan, Indiana and Northwest Ohio and is headquartered in Detroit.

VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Sterling native Cmdr. Jason Nelson is the new commanding officer of the Navy Talent Acquisition Group Heartland, the Navy said in a news release Monday.

Nelson, son of Jeff and Debbie Nelson, was appointed at a change of command ceremony at the Yankee Air Museum in Van Buren Township, Michigan, on March 11. He relieved Cmdr. Paolo Singh, of Riverside, California.

NTAG Heartland recruited more than 1,400 enlisted personnel and assessed more than 100 officers during Singh’s tenure as commanding officer, which began on Aug. 27, 2020.

Upon assuming command, Nelson stressed the importance of the command’s mission to the sailors and civilians of NTAG Heartland. He said that his vision of what NTAG Heartland is tasked with is “to defend the people and ideas of this nation by manning the fleet through changing the lives of young men and women with Navy opportunities.”

Cmdr. Jason Nelson

“You all made that choice at one point. You know why you did it. We need to continue to bring that out to our public so that we can give them those opportunities,” Nelson said.

He reported as executive officer of NTAG Heartland in August 2020. His background includes a master’s of science in modeling, virtual environments, and simulation from the Naval Postgraduate School and an associate’s degree in Spanish from the Defense Language Institute.

He was the chief engineer on USS McClusky, the officer in charge of Surface Warfare Detachment Three, and executive officer of USS Fort Worth.

During the ceremony, both Navy Recruiting Region Central Cmdr. David Pavlik and Singh expressed their confidence that Nelson was the right candidate for his new position.

“You’re on your way to do great things as [commanding officer],” Pavlik said. “I have the highest confidence in you and your leadership, and I strongly believe that you’re the right person at the right time for Team Heartland.”

“You are orders of magnitude more knowledgeable about recruiting than I was at this point, and I see how much you care about NTAG Heartland,” Singh said. “I can’t think of anyone better to hand our command to.”

NTAG Heartland is responsible for the Navy’s enlisted and officer recruiting, covering nearly 140,000 square miles of Michigan, Indiana and Northwest Ohio; it is headquartered in Detroit.

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.