The Yokosuka site is staffed predominantly by Damage Controlmen, Aviation Boastwain’s mates – both ABHs and ABFs. The training site also offers classroom training for gauge calibration and gas free engineers.
Valdez says all of his trainers are qualified instructors, and he has a number of master instructors. “I get a lot of people calling me on the phone wanting to come here. Its good duty, and they want to pick up those training qualifications.”
Ready for deployment
The ATG training takes place aboard ship. “So when the sailor has questions about their own systems, we come in and we touch valves, and fully activate the system, so the sailor knows exactly how the system works,” ATG San Diego’s DCCS Lawrence Lopez says.
Chief Aviation Boatswain’s Mate Steve Shinault instructs sailors during a damage control drill held at the Surface Warfare Officer School learning site on Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan. The drill is a part of a basic damage control course that is required for all sailors reporting to afloat commands. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Alonzo M. Archer
Before the ship enters its CNO maintenance availability period, the ATG team comes aboard the ship for the pre-training visit, or PTV.
“We’ll explain the entire training cycle to the chain of command, including their classroom training and assessments, from when they get out of the shipyard, all the way to the main space fire,” Lopez says.
“The teams will vary depending on the size of the ship, or the complexity of the training. A destroyer will have one team of four personnel for a destroyer, for example, but a large deck amphib may have an 11-person training team,” says Lopez.
“For their DCMA – Damage Control Material Assessment, the ship has to be able to man 100 percent on damage control. Even a light bulb for halon system that’s out will down the space. We cannot continue unless the discrepancy is fixed.”
“The teams will vary depending on the size of the ship, or the complexity of the training. A destroyer will have one team of four personnel for a destroyer, for example, but a large deck amphib may have an 11-person training team,” says Lopez.
Every repair locker will have a casualty, lasting up to three hours. So it takes a lot of planning and a lot of coordination.
It can take up to four weeks to complete all of the training on a carrier. “When we’re conducting GQ on a carrier, we’re dealing with more than 700 personnel at one time,” says Lopez.
All of his trainers are Damage Controlmen, most of them are E-6 and above. Lopez has the assets to have a team training on a carrier with 11 personnel, and still have three more teams out covering the waterfront.
If needed, Lopez says he can augment his teams with personnel from other ATGs such as ATG PACNORWEST or ATG MIDPAC in Hawaii. “And we can do the same thing to support the other ATGs.”
“We go through all their admin, manning, their NECs, and personnel qualifications for their each repair locker, duty section, flying squad, and system,” Lopez says.
We use the same team lead for that ship from the beginning, all the way to certification. Members of the team might change, but the team leader will stay the same so he or she can keep on contact with the DCA and the DCC.
Lopez says most ships rise to the occasion. “We tell them what we want to see when we inspect. There are no surprises.”
“The team lead will be solely in charge of training that ship through the entire training cycle. If a ship does poorly, it still falls under us because we’re the ones training the ship.
“When they’re deployed, we still keep in contact with the ship,” Lopez says. “They can reach back to us if they have questions, and we can let them know about any new developments, such as directives or instructions that may have come out.”
Lopez says a number of the people he’s trained have come back to him later wanting to get assigned at ATG. “We screen the personnel trying to come in, making sure they have good evaluations and PRT scores. They represent ATG to the captain and crew of that ship, and represent our command through the entire training cycle.”
When a first class petty officer comes to ATG, they have the opportunity to gain knowledge and expertise, and not just on the class of ship that they’re familiar with. They’re going to know about every type of ship on the waterfront. “If you have a first class whose is going up for chief – he or she is going to be more knowledgeable, and valuable to the fleet,” says CMDCM Brian Ortega, ATG Pacific’s Command Master Chief.” “Now they can go anywhere that may need help, because they’ve inspected and assessed those ships, and they know what to look for.
“They get to see all the great programs out there,” Ortega says.
Courtesy of Surface SITREP. Republished with the permission of the Surface Navy Association (www.navysna.org).