Photo By Spc. Rochelle Prince-Krueger | Chief Warrant Officer 4 David Elam, commander of Logistic Support Vessel -6, “Spc....... read more read more
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AT SEA - There’s an old saying that says “practice makes perfect.” And in most cases, one must continue to practice to stay proficient at something. The Army practices many things from ceremonies to battle drills, so the Soldiers know what they need to do at a certain moment in time.
“The more you practice and train on various drills aboard a ship the more natural it will come if or when there is an emergency,” said Sgt. Douglas Crousore, the boatswain assigned to 335th Transportation Detachment, 529th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade. “You have muscle memory from the prior training and you will be able to do what is needed to take care of the situation if it occurs.”
Soldiers aboard the Logistic Support Vessel -6, the “Specialist James Loux," continue every day to refine their skills by practicing various drills. On March 11, LSV-6 went underway for a day, leaving the Kuwait Naval Base to conduct some drills out at sea.
“I have seen lots of improvement since I got here in January,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Derrick Swetnam, the first mate of LSV-6, which is like the executive officer of a company “We have a very practiced and professional group of Soldiers on our crew.”
Not every Soldier has been raised on a boat since the beginning of their career in the Army. Some like the cooks or medical personnel have never stepped on an Army vessel until they received orders to the vessel. Once they are on the ship, the other crew members ensure they learn the drills and are as proficient as anyone else aboard the vessel.
“It all comes down to training and experience,” said Swetnam, who as the first mate oversees all day to day operations. “We know what we need out of our crew members in order to maximize the safety and operation of the vessel, and we do just that.”
The first drill that the crew executed was called abandon ship. In this drill, they had to put on water immersion suits and grab specific survival gear and supplies as if they needed to leave the vessel.
“We all have different roles for every drill,” said Spc. Stephen Fitzwater, a watercraft engineer for “Spc. James Loux,"
“I have to grab drinking water and then put my immersion suit on.”
“One of the biggest emphases with abandon ship is to get accountability of all personnel as fast as possible,” said Swetnam, who as the first mate also is in charge of the health, welfare and motivation of the Soldiers. “Time wise, and we are right where we need to be for accountability and getting the immersion suits on quickly.”
Shortly after everyone put their immersion suits away and went back to their daily duties a fire alarm sounded and the crew once again went into action.
Crousore said history shows that fires sink more vessels at sea than any other emergency.
“As a crew we all realize that when we are at sea, it is just us; there is no calling the fire department,” said Fitzwater. “Many of us have encountered fires aboard ships before, that is why we all take the drills very seriously.”
Just as Fitzwater said before, all the crew members have different roles for different drills - with the fire drill there are different teams, one who will fight the fire while another gets the equipment ready. The last drill of the day was battle station drill. This is a drill where Soldiers will don their “battle rattle," or vest and Kevlar to man a station with a weapon.
“We practice on defending our vessel, we don’t look to attack just defend,” said Swetnam. “The main concern we have when out at sea is pirates. We follow our escalation of force and we usually don’t have any issues.”
Escalation of force is the steps of non-lethal capabilities that enable the ship to control a situation.
The crew of LSV-6 has hit its half way point through their deployment but is continuing to perfect their skills with all of the drills so if or when an emergency comes, they will know exactly how to handle it.
| Date Taken: | 03.11.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.19.2015 03:37 |
| Story ID: | 157459 |
| Location: | LSV-6, AT SEA |
| Hometown: | KUWAIT NAVAL BASE, KW |
| Hometown: | FORT EUSTIS, VA, US |
| Hometown: | FORT STEWART, GA, US |
| Hometown: | VIRGINIA BEACH, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 300 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, LSV-6 refines skills with drills, by SPC Rochelle Prince-Krueger, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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