GAETA, Italy — Chief selectees from the Naples area participate in damage control Olympics aboard USS Mount Whitney, Sept. 5.
Part of the chief petty officer induction season, chief selectees embarked Mount Whitney to continue their leadership training. Once onboard, the selectees took part in DC and emergency medical response training culminating in DC Olympics. The DC Olympics are various DC scenarios spread throughout the ship that challenged the chief selectees in battling flooding, emergency first aid and their communication skills.
"We had the opportunity to put the selectees in good situations in order for them to learn better skills that they are going to need as chiefs," said CMDCM (SW) Jon Taylor, Mount Whitney command master chief. "I think the selectees have learned a lot. We put them through scenarios where they could not always see or hear and were required to communicate using non-verbal means in order to fight fires, stop flooding and communicate with each other. They did a great job learning how to communicate better."
During the 2010 induction season, the Naples area chief petty officers have incorporated various military training evolutions into the curriculum for the chief selectees in order to further their development as leaders.
"The training evolution that we took part in gave the overview of basic DC skills that all Sailors go through when they're aboard ships. Being a Seabee, it's something that I have never experienced before. Going through and learning about the active communication that takes place during an evolution like that is something that I can use when I go back to my shop," said Petty Officer 1st Class Wilbert Davis, construction electrician, a chief select assigned to Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station in Naples, Italy. "I learned a very valuable skill in learning to communicate with other people. There are different ways and things that can be interpreted. You have to make sure you're being heard and clearly understood when giving orders or else your orders might not be followed correctly."
Induction training will continue for the selectees throughout the Naples area culminating in their chief petty officer pinning ceremony, Sept. 16.
Mount Whitney, the U.S. 6th Fleet's flagship, is homeported in Gaeta, Italy and operates with a hybrid crew of U.S. Sailors and Military Sealift Command civilian mariners.