Photo By Courtney Pollock | Installation Training Officer James Denning, at podium, listens to installation...... read more read more
The sun is just beginning to rise over the horizon illuminating the coastal base of Naval Station (NAVSTA) Rota in southern Spain. From an office on the second floor above shipping docks, a call goes out through a radio to another location on the base, “Safety Officer … ITO. Comms check.”
After a few seconds, confirmation is received and the caller moves onto the next name on his list.
The man at the radio is James Denning, installation training officer, or ITO, at NAVSTA Rota, and today is an exercise day. This day is the culmination of weeks – typically months – of planning to coordinate and implement a safe, integrated training exercise to test the installation’s readiness.
For these days, prior planning and preparation are essential to ensure the day goes off without any issues.
“The success of our installation training team greatly depends on each departments’ cooperation and dedication to ensuring that all personnel onboard NAVSTA Rota are well-trained and prepared for any type of event that may present itself to our first responders,” said Denning.
Denning goes on to explain that these integrated exercises enhance performance, reduce likelihood of mishaps, and build the first responders’ confidence in their knowledge and responses.
“It all comes down to training, you have to train how you fight,” said Senior Chief Master-at-Arms Brandon Robertson, then-training chief for NAVSTA Security Department. “It gives our security forces the ability to respond to a real-world event in a controlled environment.”
Due to the nature of their daily duties, naval security forces have a rigorous training plan that includes installation integrated exercises as well as the in-house training. Robertson states that these exercises mentally prepare Sailors for the type of situations they may encounter during their shift.
The situations security force personnel – or other first responders – could face is always changing. The installation training team (ITT) must maintain awareness of new threats around the world that impact the types of exercise scenarios needed.
“The biggest challenge of my job is being able to adjust to evolving requirements,” said Denning. “Every day the U.S. Navy is discovering new and improved ways or tactics of dealing with multiple issues. In turn these new tactics must be trained, and this usually includes drills or exercises to validate the training that our personnel has received.”
These evolving requirements have led to a robust training program that responds to natural disasters, active shooters, shipboard fires, chemical and biological attacks, environmental issues, pandemics, and sexual assault prevention and response drills. Couple this with the diverse missions of NAVSTA Rota and its tenant commands spanning from the flight line to pier-side operations, and the Rota Training Department is on track to complete 18 integrated exercises for fiscal year 2022.
The scope of each drill varies based on the requirements and collaboration, with some being focused on one aspect of readiness while others pull in multiple departments and tenant commands from throughout the installation.
According to Denning, a routine exercise requires five departments as well as some tenant commands, and approximately 30-50 personnel. This takes a great deal of planning on the training department’s part with input from ITT, stakeholders, and installation leadership.
“From start to finish for any of our ITT exercises, it generally takes 90-120 days with multiple meetings preparing for our exercises,” stated Denning.
Much of the preparation and planning is coordinated by Denning and his team of five multi-disciplinary Sailors – Chief Operations Specialist Paul Grace, Hull Maintenance Technician 1st Class Luis Aguiar, Quartermaster 1st Class Brandon Chandler, Machinist’s Mate 3rd Class Aylianna Partida, and Master-at-Arms Seaman Cameron Johnson – that make up the NAVSTA training department.
“By having different rates within the training department, it helps to give our entire team multiple ways of seeing how people may react to an incident,” said Denning. “This in turn gives us a better understanding of how first responders from multiple rates might respond to a specific scenario and build expectations for the personnel we are exercising.”
This broad perspective within the training department allows them to create realistic scenarios for installation personnel on a variety of emergencies in multiple locations.
While the preparation for the integrated exercise is complex and time-intensive, the small team also maintains ongoing training oversight for the installation. They maintain records on completed general military training (GMTs), personnel qualification standards (PQS) for various rates, and coordination of additional trainings as required by the command.
The installation’s integrated exercises are the big show with each team member having their own duties ensure a safe and effective exercise, from preparing drill packets and briefs to inventorying and prepping safety and communication gear for check out.
By the time the radio check is taking place on an exercise day, Denning has been working for several hours. He is typically with naval security forces for their turnover brief at 5:30 a.m. where he briefs the incoming watchstanders for situational awareness of the training. He then heads back to the training classroom where the ITT, comprised of personnel from throughout the installation, are gathering.
“The training department comes in an hour before the safety brief begins,” explained Johnson. “After the brief, we’ll issue gear to each participant so that they’re prepared during the exercise.”
Installation personnel then break off to their respective locations around NAVSTA Rota to begin preparing spaces, completing walkthroughs, and notifications in preparation of the exercise. As each team member completes their walkthroughs and preparations, the status is relayed to Denning.
Once everything is set and safe to train, the final step is for Denning to meet with installation leadership to receive the approval to initiate the training. With the signatures still drying on the paper, “STARTEX (start of exercise)" is relayed over the radio and the timeline begins.
Denning then acts as the director of a complex scenario. As the timeline progresses, he communicates to each team member when they are to inject a new variable or requirement to the scenario as well as manages any issues – such as a safety or training time out – as they arise.
“If there are any unsafe conditions, any member can call ‘safety time out,’ which will cease all operations,” said Aguiar, explaining what happens when an unsafe condition is discovered during the exercise. “When in training mode, the evaluators may call ‘training time out’ to assist the blue force (first responders being evaluated) with a procedure, or guide them with a step with training and clarification.”
It can be a delicate balance pushing the first responders to react as they would in a real-world situation during these simulated scenarios while maintaining the safety of all personnel. The gravity of this responsibility can felt on exercise days and the installation avoids any risk to personnel safety.
Once an unsafe condition or training time out is resolved, Denning gets concurrence from NAVSTA commanding officer or executive officer to resume the exercise.
The training team works with most departments or commands but there are a few departments – primarily the first responders of security, fire department and medical – that are almost always involved in an exercise. Given the location onboard the Spanish installation of Base Naval de Rota, it is vital that NAVSTA Rota first responders understand how to work with their Spanish counterparts.
“Through integration in any of our exercises, we begin to build trust in each other personally and in each other's capabilities in our integrated response to an incident,” said Denning. “This helps us provide the highest level of support possible to installation personnel in any type of emergency.”
This combined response created by challenging the first responders within an exercise scenario ultimately helps each first responder and base personnel understand how to integrate seamlessly into the larger picture of NAVSTA Rota’s response.
“It is amazing to see all the base support systems coming together whether it’s an active shooter, a plane crash or even an oil spill,” said Chandler. “Seeing the base services acting as one unit is amazing.”
This past year, the training team has seen this in action during several integrated exercises. The culmination of several months of exercises was the biennial CART, or Commander’s Assessment of Readiness and Training, evaluation in June 2022 where personnel from region and headquarters were onsite observing and evaluating naval security forces. Additionally, the Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center (FDRMC) Rota-led training requirement for a shipboard fire led to intensive collaboration and coordination from NAVSTA Training Department and installation personnel.
Denning finds great satisfaction in knowing that the training team created effective and realistic training. Thomas Wiley, former assistant chief of training for NAVSTA Rota Fire and Emergency Services worked with Denning for over four years describing their work together as “amazing.”
“I was able to teach him some things about the fire department and he has made me a better training team member,” said Wiley.
This mutually beneficial working relationship where they teach, assist, and evaluate each other has helped both to professionally grow within their roles as well as develop trust with their counterpart.
“Just as the installation training team challenges our department and makes us better over time, it works the other way too,” said Wiley. “The team builds relationships across the board and helps us respond to real-world situations.”
These strong foundations were tested last year when the installation hosted evacuees from Afghanistan as part of the Department of Defense’s Operation Allies Welcome mission. Due to the partnership, trust and bonds developed through exercises, Rota personnel were able to come together with solutions to unique problems in a short-time span to support the 2,619 evacuees on their way to the United States.
Another key element of the training department is the evaluation of the response to find areas of improvement. This constant push for improvement – whether it is processes, equipment, or response – helps push Rota personnel to grow.
“Once all objectives are met, the drill will end and we all attend an immediate after-action discussion on how the exercise went,” said Johnson. “Participants and their evaluators will give one thing that they could have done better and one thing that they did well.”
This information is compiled by the training department and a report is generated for installation leadership and documented within the training archive for reference and future planning.
This documentation ensures that the training team is continually developing better exercise scenarios to test installation personnel.
“Our team’s detailed knowledge and expertise is nothing less than exceptional, and essential to contributing to Naval Station Rota’s operational readiness,” said Denning.
With the final call of “ENDEX (end of exercise),” another exercise is completed...until the next one.
| Date Taken: | 09.22.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.26.2022 08:07 |
| Story ID: | 430071 |
| Location: | ES |
| Web Views: | 95 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Train How We Fight: NAVSTA Rota Training Department Tests Readiness, by Courtney Pollock, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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