Photo By Angela Fry | 160917-N-TI567-001 STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – International students attending...... read more read more
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – Naval Special Warfare Group 4’s Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School, located at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, recently graduated 67 students from 10 countries, who completed various courses of instruction offered at the international schoolhouse.
This iteration, which offered curriculum in Spanish, featured students from Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Paraguay. The selected individuals were able to study at NAVSCIATTS’ facilities in order to develop operational proficiency and technical knowledge and skills in specialized courses ranging from the school’s Waterborne Instructor Course-Coastal, its International Tactical Communications Course, Outboard Motor Maintenance and Overhaul, Diesel Systems Overhaul and Maintenance, Technical Welding and Applied Repairs, to its Patrol Craft Advanced Training course.
Students, NAVSCIATTS’ staff and both international and local dignitaries gathered at the Diamondhead Country Club on Sept. 22, to honor the students for their achievements and for newly-forged relationships. “You have put your heart and soul into doing your best while at NAVSCIATTS,” expressed Executive Officer Lt. Cmdr. Kerry Jackson, a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Navy who has spent the majority of his career as a SEAL.
“Your graduation today will certainly bring better security and stability to your countries and the world,” continued Jackson. “We hope that the training you excelled at in these courses will elevate you to becoming the subject matter experts in your respective fields; but we believe that the most valuable thing you will bring back to your countries is the relationships you have established while at NAVSCIATTS.”
With NAVSCIATTS' primary mission as the U.S. Special Operations Command’s international center specializing in mobile and in-resident training across the tactical, operational and strategic spectrums in order to strengthen partner nation capabilities, an invitation to address the graduates was extended to Colombian Maj. Gen. Rodrigo Gonzalez Herrera, the country’s directorate of Carabineers and Rural Security. With 24 years of law enforcement experience, Herrera stressed the importance of continued training and strengthening of relationships within the Latin American regions.
“The satisfaction of being part of a select group of students is a great pleasure,” he explained, as Colombia routinely provides large numbers of students to the Security Cooperation schoolhouse. “This leads us to once more endorse our commitment and show this effort to other police forces and security agencies across the regions. We need to continue focusing efforts to deploying and sustaining efforts in the prevention of drug trafficking. With a large cooperative spirit, we can build the tools that will allow us to understand and characterize the phenomenon of the drug trafficking world.”
In closing remarks, 16-5 class leader, Lt. Alejandro J. Vega Quintanilla of the Nicaraguan Navy, expressed his appreciation on behalf of the class to the NAVSCIATTS’ staff and the United States for so warmly welcoming the students into the area. Vega also described the opportunities to travel to the U.S. and learn about its culture in Field Sponsor Program trips to Atlanta, New Orleans and Pensacola, Florida. “As the NAVSCIATTS’ motto states, we are truly ‘stronger together,’” Vega stated at the end of ceremonies.
Other international dignitaries in attendance were Col. Andres Carreño Bustamante, deputy defense attaché to the embassy of Peru, U.S.; and Naval Commander Humberto Javier Martinez, Peru’s liaison officer to U.S. Fleet Forces Command.
NAVSCIATTS currently offers approximately 20 courses with an average of nearly 1,000 international personnel graduating from in-resident and mobile training events annually. Since 1963, more than 11,000 students from more than 108 partner nations have graduated from NAVSCIATTS. The Security Cooperation schoolhouse operates under USSOCOM in support of the Foreign Security Assistance and Geographic commander’s Theater Security Cooperation.
For more information on NAVSCIATTS’ history and courses offered, visit www.public.navy.mil/nsw/NAVSCIATTS.
| Date Taken: | 09.22.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 09.23.2016 10:47 |
| Story ID: | 210413 |
| Location: | STENNIS SPACE CENTER, MS, US |
| Web Views: | 186 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NAVSCIATTS Graduates Class 16-5, by Angela Fry, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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