"When I go back to the fleet, I will report that the well-balanced training you [Naval Education and Training Command] provide, which combines instructor-led, hands-on and computer training, is meeting the needs of my Sailors. We must always take into account that the partnership between the fleet and the training commands must be mutually beneficial to our operational commitments and future. Communication between the two is vital."Force Master Chief Gary McClure
Commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic
For the Sailors out there, what do you say about the training you receive?
6 comments:
Master Chief McClure needs to spend some time out here with the FDNF in Japan. He'll change his mind about how well CNET/NETC training is going. We are setting up our sailors for failure. The complexity of their jobs requires more training and education - not less. They just don't understand how the equipment works. Our contractors have to show them how to do basic maintenance on our gear. It's UNSAT as far as I'm concerned. As a PO1 I am teaching the junior sailors, the chiefs and my divo. Don't get me wrong. I love teaching. Some of this is scary. My fellow PO1s feel like we are pissing into the wind. It is starting to stink.
As the former Director of Training at the (now) Center for Information Dominance, I can tell you that it is nearly impossible to deliver the level of training our Sailors need to do their jobs in the Fleet. Each successive year sees reductions in the amount of training delivered to our Sailors. Our instructors work incredibly hard to get the job done. I subscribe to ADM Vern Clark's view that we have to engage ourselves in lifelong learning. It's a team effort. Very hard work. In the end we usually end up with frustrated Sailors (knowledge sponges) who are being trained and frustrated Sailors in the Fleet who feel we have let them down by not training the new Sailors enough. It's not easy on either end of the spectrum.
"Training is meeting the needs of our Sailors" - I read that and immediately, unfortunately, sadly thought "troll"
Every year we spend more time teaching the basics that used to be taught in A or C Schools. It's not the Sailors, it's the system. If this is the way the Navy wants it, fine, I'm more than happy spending time on the deckplates guiding my Sailors, vice sitting behind a computer screen fielding email.
Maybe Master Chief is trying to uplift an organization that is, simply put, FAILING. Most watch standers have to spend months before they qualified for the simplest position because they only received a "basic" level of training. We've bought into the mantra "they'll get trained when they hit the fleet" for too long -- now that fleet training is replaced by endless email tasking, IA requirements, increased work load (because of optimum manning) and all the other things that are a Top Priority. Master Chief, and CNET, needs to take a look again - can that OS A school grad sit down at Surface Tracker console and perform at a Fleet Level as a result of CNET Training, can that Quartermaster plot a track out of harbor or man the helm coming out of San Diego, can that Corpsman successful draw blood without missing the vein three times? Lets stop sugar coating things -- we've cut manning and training at the junior ranks and we're steadily increasing the requirements on our senior enlisted and junior officers.
I agree training is unsat. When I went through A school many years ago the final week or two (long time ago) was spent in the trainer with each person taking turns sitting the different positions in CIC and applying all the knowledge they had learned over the past coupe of moths sort of a final exam.
FDNF is a great place to learn but when you are starting from scratch because they don't have even the basic skills and figured out how to game the system it is very frustrating.
The NAVY is seriously broke and the bigger problem is no one is willing to admit that. We would rather worry about diversity and appointing new ADM's than we do about fixing the enlisted manning.
It's gonna come to the point where we have 5 officers to every enlisted. We need to break the corporate mentality we have. We are NOT a corporation. We are NOT a money making enterprise that returns dividends.
We are or rather used to be the best damn Navy in the world. If we fail to properly invest and train our sailors we are doomed. Bring back SIMA's so my Techs can spend three years on shore duty fixing equipment so that when they return they are the best tech's in the world. Our sailors deserve better than what we are providing for them now.
***Opinions of a 20year LDO***
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