NECC sailors step ashore for combat training

[unhappycamper]

Sailors learn the proper technique on the use of an M4 rifle as part of the Expeditionary Combat Skills course at the Navy Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Miss.


NECC sailors step ashore for combat training
By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Nov 10, 2007 7:35:35 EST

Right now, there are sailors in Gulfport, Miss., who are firing rifle rounds downrange, practicing combat casualty care, getting familiar with roadside bombs and learning when they should and shouldn’t use deadly force.

It’s all part of a pilot program that, once it’s fully up and running, will teach ground combat skills to every sailor assigned to Navy Expeditionary Combat Command.

That means that within a few years, there will be a sizeable community of sailors who know more about land navigation and muzzle discipline than they do about destroyers and frigates.

Already underway at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, the Expeditionary Combat Skills course will go from trial program to official course by February. More than 1,600 sailors are expected to complete the course by this time next year, and up to 5,000 sailors a year are expected to go through after that.

The fundamentals are simple: shoot, move, communicate, survive.

“It was recognized early on, about a year and a half ago, shortly after NECC was created, that traditional Navy training, particularly for new accessions, does not prepare them properly to work in that boots-on-the-ground expeditionary environment,” said Capt. Mark Kohart, commanding officer of the Little Creek, Va.-based Center for Security Forces, which runs the program. “ notwithstanding, this kind of training is not part of our tradition.”


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/navy_necctraining_071110w/



uhc comment: I strongly suspect this is to support Africom, rather than the occupation.

[MADem]

1. Who knows where they might end up? USAF already started adding combat training to their boot camp.

This is limited to the SEABEES thus far, it would seem. Perhaps their INTENT isn't towards Iraq/Afghanistan, but we'll know better when we start seeing how many Sailors are coming out of there in boxes in the outmonths...this IS, as the article says, a sharp departure.

Hmmm. We shall see. If it 'takes' on these kids, maybe they'll extend it across the fleet, and if they don't end up tacking this trial program onto the boot camp curriculum before too much more time passes:

Nor is NECC, the new command designed to provide maritime security in coastal areas and ashore using existing units like Seabees, revived forces like the riverine squadrons and new entities like the Maritime Civil Affairs Group.

Formed in stages after Sept. 11, 2001, the Center for Security Forces provides sailors with training on how to board vessels at sea and survive alone in hostile territory, and how to be security and anti-terrorism specialists.

Kohart said that by 2011, it’s expected that some 5,000 sailors a year will complete the combat training course before they arrive at various NECC units.

“What that’s looking at is a full sustainment package for the entirety of NECC,” he said. “So whether you’re an officer, a fleet returnee or a new accession, you’re going to get exposure to this course, because it will save your life.”

The first sailors through the course will be new Seabees, who previously had their own shorter two-week combat skills course called Seabee Replacement Training.

Other students will be eligible by priority, with sailors headed to riverine squadrons high on the list, along with expeditionary security force sailors, said Capt. Bob McKenna, assistant chief of staff for training at NECC.