Photo By Chief Petty Officer Stephane Belcher | 201117-N-PG340-1141 PORT HUENEME, Calif. (Nov. 17, 2020) Builder 3rd Class Joseph...... read more read more
PORT HUENEME, Calif.— U.S. Navy Seabees with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 5 completed Command Post Exercise One (CPX1) onboard Naval Base Ventura County, Port Hueneme and Point Mugu, California, Nov. 20.
They demonstrated their ability to execute command, control, communications, computer, and intelligence capabilities (also known as C4I) in a field environment, which is part of their mission-essential tasks leading to the battalion’s final graded field training exercise.
“Command post exercises are essential to unit readiness,” said Lt. j.g. Kenneth Heinzerling NMCB-5’s training officer. “CPX1 is the second iteration of NMCB FIVE's Command Post Exercises. It develops and outlines basic command and control fundamentals for our unit, and it marks a milestone in the home port training cycle. We are one step closer to becoming the ready battalion.”
From Nov. 13 to Nov. 20, the Seabees simulated combat engineering, and expeditionary logistic support, including airfield damage repair and port damage repair. This exercise went around the clock, meaning the Seabees rotated watches 24 hours a day.
The Seabees reacted to scenarios (or injects), which are story-based events applied by facilitators to give the Seabees a taste of real-world operations—such as simulating the release of chemical agents to test their decontamination response and process.
"CPX1 was designed to stress the battalion early in its training cycle," said Heinzerling. "We need to identify problems and faults early on to manage resources in the future properly. The Seabees and small unit leaders within NMCB-5 made remarkable improvements throughout the week-long exercise."
The CPX1 environment gives the Seabees a platform to start with. It gives them the ability to perform their duties to learn the critical watch-standing positions with hands-on drills and evolve them for CPX2 and their Field Training Exercise (FTX).
“For me personally, completing CPX1 means having a team that works well together, that has learned all the proper methods and can perform those proper methods expeditiously enough to be able to handle situations, so we’re safe in a combat environment,” said Senior Chief Constructionman Craig Miller, NMCB-5’s training chief.
“I don’t think we would achieve the correct posture for FTX without doing these training events. We learn the right procedures and the right way forward so that when we’re actually in a real-world environment—going somewhere overseas in wartime situations—we’re going to do the right things all the time, like muscle memory.”
The completion of CPX1 prepares them for upcoming deployments, and it means NMCB-5 is one step closer to being the ready battalion. It underscores their ability to operate and communicate through multiple command posts simultaneously and respond to major combat operations.
NMCB-5 is homeported in Port Hueneme, California. During the homeport phase, the Seabees train on high-quality construction, expeditionary logistics, and combat operations. They execute construction and engineering projects to support major combat operations, disaster response, and humanitarian assistance during deployment.
| Date Taken: | 11.20.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 11.25.2020 11:39 |
| Story ID: | 383801 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, US |
| Web Views: | 166 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NMCB-5 Completes CPX1, by CPO Stephane Belcher, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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