CAMDEN, New Jersey –
Damage control props and equipment, provided by Bucks County Community College Public Safety Training Center, located in Doylestown, Pa., were used to expose 66 Active and Reserve chief petty officer selectees to fire hose and damage control training.
Five boat teams positioned themselves along the Delaware River to start working as a cohesive unit during one of several training evolutions scheduled with the 15th Annual “Big J” Chief Petty Officer Heritage Academy (CPOHA) held Aug. 23-25.
“We wanted to give a brief experience of firefighting and shipboard damage control mentoring to the Selects because most have never been on a ship,” said retired Chief Hospital Corpsman John Townsend.
Townsend, a Fire Suppression Instructor for the college, is also the Fire Marshall for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and a former Safety Manager for Naval History and Heritage Command.
“The training included hose line management,” said Townsend. “Some excelled and some made the effort to a manageable level to manage the flood. A few teams had to change their course of action to accomplish the goal, while the process worked well with other teams. For many, this was the first time to perform these functions.”
To link fire hose training and damage control scenarios to Navy heritage, five specific Navy incidents were assigned to each boat team to research and report back to the Chiefs’ Mess. The USS Stark (FFG-31), USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413), USS Iowa (BB-61), USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62), and USS McCain (DDG-56) were used as examples to reiterate the importance of damage control in the efforts of those crews to keep the ship alive.
“The training is meant to embed knowledge and understanding that your rate does not matter when it comes to saving the ship,” said Townsend. “Everyone will look to you as the Chief.
Some of the reasons we chose these ships were because CPOs were actually involved and knew about the incident first-hand, or had knowledge related to the incident. This training symbolizes things needed to keep the ship alive.”
Learning to accomplish a task as a team is a major achievement for the CPO mentors teaching this lesson. Paying attention to detail, effective use of communication skills, as well as knowing when to delegate tasks, helped to keep all involved safe from harm and danger.
“This training was excellent,” said Chief (Select) Boatswain's Mate David Harrison, Commander, Surface Group, unit career counselor, Great Lakes. “Boat Team 2, Spruance Raiders, were the only team that finished.”
Harrison reflected upon the last time he was in a damage control trainer. When he saw the water spewing from the pipe, he knew he had to stop it and felt accomplished when the team was able to make that happen.
“We had to communicate, work as a team, and agree to divide and conquer the necessary tasks to stop the water, “said Harrison. “The training was excellent!”
The 15th Annual “Big J” CPOHA Event is a five-day opportunity for chief selects to work onboard the USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62), along with experienced CPOs. The ““Big J”” CPO Heritage Academy encampment on the Battleship New Jersey began in 2009 as a half-day event. In 2010 it turned into a 2-day Encampment and has served as a heritage, mentorship, and leadership event every Chief season since.
The purpose of the ““Big J”” is to present an opportunity for CPO Selects to experience life on the Battleship and to present a multitude of history and heritage learning opportunities. Most importantly, the encampment is designed to facilitate one-on-one mentorship engagements with a diverse group of Chiefs throughout the United States.
The ““Big J”” CPO Heritage Academy aims to align and provide avenues to learn and cement the fundamental purpose of being a Chief, along with the expectations of the Navy, as outlined in ‘Laying the Keel Update’, from the defense.gov website. The intent is to help create confident, yet humble leaders relentlessly dedicated to the continuous improvement of their teams and themselves, and drive excellence in leading our Navy team forward across the operational and warfighting competencies.
Our job and training plans are intended to remain diligently focused on sharpening our skills, learning our job, and keeping ourselves and the Sailors’ mission-ready, physically ready, medically ready, administratively ready, but most of all — mentally ready — to stand up and meet the challenge when the nation calls.