Fleet Combat Training Center Atlantic Gunnery: Equipping sailors with the tools to fight terror

January 10, 2002 - DAM NECK, Va. (NNS) -- Chief Gunner's Mate (SW) Virgil Kilpatrick, an instructor at Fleet Combat Training Center (FCTCLANT) Atlantic, has spent the last three years providing Sailors with skills he hoped they would never truly need -- operating and maintaining shipboard weapons systems in war.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the campaign against terrorism, training commands like FCTCLANT are at the ground floor of the battle.

Veteran Sailors like Kilpatrick are in classrooms, laboratories and simulators, arming their students with the tools to fight terror.

FCTCLANT has more than 20 gunnery instructors who teach eight courses, ranging from three days to 16 weeks in length. The shortest course is the .50-caliber machine gun operator and maintenance course.

In this course, students are taught the basic operation of the .50-caliber Browning M2 HB machine gun. They learn to perform maintenance on the automatic gun, which is capable of firing more than 500 rounds per minute. They also learn to troubleshoot, disassemble and reassemble the weapon -- all within a three-day time frame of instruction.

"It's a pretty intensive course," said Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Jimmy Justus, who teaches the course. "There's a lot of information to take in, and a short time to do it."

Gunnery division's lengthiest course of instruction teaches operation and maintenance of the .54-caliber Mark 45, 5-inch gun mount. The 16-week course provides technicians with the required skills to operate, troubleshoot and repair the lightweight gun, which provides ships with accurate offensive or defensive gunfire against surface, air and shore targets.

The Mark 45 is controlled by either the Mk 86 Gun Fire Control System or the Mk 160 Gun Computing System, both of which are taught at FCTCLANT.

FCTCLANT's gunnery instructors have always stressed strict adherence to prescribed safety measures.

According to GM1(SW) George Cumings, careless safety procedure can be a gunner's mate's deadliest enemy.

"It is important to take your time and go through all your steps, whether you're operating the gun or performing maintenance," Cumings said. "If you don't, you can get yourself -- and your shipmates -- killed."

Technology has changed the face of naval training during the past two decades. For gunner's mates, computer literacy has become nearly as important as skill with a weapon.

"Gunner's mates do a lot more than just fire guns," said Kilpatrick, a 17-year Navy veteran. "It may not seem like a technical rating, but it is."

One of the most exceptional additions to gunnery training has been the use of the automated electronic classroom (AEC).

The AEC uses computers to design, manage, store and present training material. FCTCLANT employs AEC technology to deliver a wide variety of training curricula, including ammunition administration and the Retail Ordnance Logistics Maintenance System (ROLMS) Database Administrator courses.

Kilpatrick said the computers are vital to the management of ammunition aboard any ship.

A great deal of technical information and organizational skill is required to manage Navy and Marine Corps ammunition. These courses -- both five days in length -- teach personnel to do it the right way.

"Each piece of ammunition has to be accounted for at all times," Kilpatrick said. "Proper admin is an important job in our business."

As the Navy leads the charge in the war on terrorism, FCTCLANT students will soon leave their classrooms to join the fight. Some will be excited, while others may be nervous. But thanks to the quality training they receive, they will all be ready.

"When our students leave here, they are ready to do their jobs, no matter where they are sent," Cumings said. "It's our job to make sure of that, and we take it seriously."

For more information on FCTCLANT, go to thier Web site.