Military foreign officers of the Naval Education and Training Security Assistance Field Activity (NETSAFA) toured Recruit Training Command (RTC), Nov.8.
NETSAFA is the U.S. Navy's agent for international training. They coordinate and supply training support to international governments and organizations. As a field activity of the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC), NETSAFA serves as a focal point for all security assistance training program issues, coordination and advice within the U.S. Navy. NETSAFA is an integral part of the Navy International Programs Office (Navy IPO).
The 13 NETSAFA officers from six different countries toured RTC to observe Navy training and see how civilians are transformed into sailors. The tour included Battle Stations 21, which is the culmination of eight weeks of training by recruits. Battle Stations 21 is a grueling 12-hour test of a recruit's skills in several shipboard evolutions, including fighting fires, stopping floods and transporting casualties. It is held entirely on board the 210-foot-long Arleigh Burke-class destroyer replica, USS Trayer, the Navy's largest simulator.
Many of the NETSAFA officers are involved in military training, manning and human resources in their home countries. Being able to compare U.S. Navy boot camp training with their country's training is a major reason for the NETSAFA course.
"The purpose of this visit is to show this (NETSAFA) class or give them an exposure to how our Navy does accession training," said Larry Goins, the deputy program manager for the NETC Training Center on Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, Fla.
Goins said the NETSAFA classes also are given the opportunity to see officer training at the Officer Training Command at Naval Station Newport, R.I., secondary enlisted training at Training Support Centers (TSC), reserve training and recruiting.
According to Goins, NETSAFA is a five-week course held at NAS Pensacola. Courses are held three times a year and class size can range from 10 to 20 foreign officers and senior enlisted. Each course includes trips to Navy and Marine Corps bases around the country to observe training up close.
"We hope that they will take back things that they can use to make their military better or things that help them better organize and train their people," Goins said.
Goins said the trips by NETSAFA also expose the classes to the American culture. While in the Chicagoland area, the group visited the Museum of Science and Industry, Millennium Park, Navy Pier and downtown Chicago.
"When they are on their trips, we try to show them how the American people live," Goins said.
But it was the training at RTC and TSC that impressed the class the most.
"I was very impressed with the system and how recruits come here and go through the training," said Col. Josef Trojan, of the Czech Republic army. "It is very efficient and, I think, very effective training."
The NETSAFA visit began with a tour at RTC's premiere trainer, USS Trayer, where the group witnessed how recruits work as a team to accomplish 17 scenarios, including putting out a fire, stopping flooding in a magazine compartment, finding and evacuating casualties from a compartment hit by a missile, loading and storing supplies and handling mooring lines.
The officers were told how lessons learned from actual events in recent Navy history — the terrorist attack on USS Cole (DDG 67) in Yemen in 2000, mine damage to USS Tripoli (LPH 10) in Desert Storm in 1990 and the missile strike on USS Stark (FFG 31) in the Persian Gulf in 1987 — have been incorporated into the scenarios aboard Trayer that range from simulated missile attacks that can cause fires to flooding caused by exploding undersea mines. The training also simulates conditions similar to historic at-sea mishaps, like the fire on the flight deck of USS Forrestal (CV 59) in 1967.
The NETSAFA group also observed the latest simulation technology that includes sights, sounds and smells by using Hollywood-type special effects with video screens, piped-in odors, large stereo woofer-created vibrations and shipboard sound effects of helicopters to missile hits to create challenging and realistic training scenarios for recruits on board Trayer enclosed within a 157,000-square-foot building at RTC.
"I think this was quite interesting," said Jamaican navy Warrant Officer Donavon Lorne. "I work with recruit training in my country so our visit here (to RTC) was quite revealing to me."
Following the tour of Trayer and Battle Stations, the officers and senior enlisted observed a capping ceremony, in which recruits are congratulated for completing Battle Stations. It's also where recruits change out their recruit ball caps — they have worn since arriving at RTC — with a Navy ball cap. This signifies a recruit is now considered a U.S. Navy sailor.
"The capping ceremony was very touching to me," said Lorne. "It brings out true loyalty and dedication to accomplish something and become a sailor."
The group also toured one of the 13 recruit ships, or barracks, on RTC. While inside the recruit barracks, USS Kearsarge, the group saw how each is set up like a ship with galleys, classrooms, berthing compartments and offices. They observed how the daily routine for a recruit is similar to the routine on board a ship or submarine in the fleet.
The NETSAFA officers and senior enlisted personnel also toured the largest building on RTC, the 173,000 square-foot three-story Freedom Hall fitness facility. It is one of the most distinctive structures on RTC and was part of the Navy's 12-year recapitalization plan, which began in 1998, to improve the quality of basic training facilities. Freedom Hall is where recruits take part in physical training evolutions and take their Physical Fitness Assessments (PFAs). They also toured RTC's firefighting and damage control trainer, USS Chief, the USS Indianapolis Combat Training Pool and Golden Thirteen In-processing Center. Golden Thirteen is named after the first 13 African-American Navy officers and is where all recruits begin their Navy adventure.
One of the last parts of the tour was of the USS Missouri Simulated Arms Marksmanship Trainer (SAMT), where recruits first become familiarized with firing a weapon. Many in the group said they enjoyed firing the simulated laser-guided, air-compressed, 9mm handguns and 12-gauge shotguns.
"I would like my country to develop and build something like the SAMT trainer," Trojan said. "It would be very beneficial and cost effective for my country. I think this (NETSAFA) course and our trip to various military bases has been very beneficial to all of us because education and training is a high priority to NATO countries."
RTC is primarily responsible for conducting the initial orientation and training of new recruits. The command is commonly is referred to as "boot camp" or "recruit training" and has been in operation at Great Lakes since 1911. Boot camp is approximately eight weeks, and all enlistees into the United States Navy begin their careers at the command. Training includes physical fitness, seamanship, firearms, firefighting and shipboard damage control and lessons in Navy heritage and core values, teamwork and discipline. Since the closure of RTCs in Orlando and San Diego in 1994, Great Lakes is now the Navy's only basic training location, and is known as "The Quarterdeck of the Navy." In July 2010 RTC successfully completed a 12-year $770 million recapitalization plan that included the building of the 13 "ship" barracks and other facilities, to meet the mission of training 21st Century Sailors. Today, more than 35,000 recruits graduate annually from RTC and begin their Navy careers.
For more information about RTC, visit http://www.bootcamp.navy.mil/.
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