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USS DeWert Maximizes Deployment Training Opportunities

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060224-03
Release Date: 2/24/2006 9:36:00 AM

By Quartermaster 3rd Class Aaron Ayers, USS DeWert Public Affairs

USS DEWERT, At Sea (NNS) -- Taking advantage of less-busy periods during its deployment, USS DeWert (FFG 45) is maximizing its underway training opportunities in firefighting, seamanship, engineering and many other areas.

While patrolling the Eastern Pacific on a deployment that began in early December, DeWert supported U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command as part of a Joint Inter-Agency Task Force, conducting counter narco-terrorism operations in the Western Hemisphere.
The crew of DeWert (FFG 45) has been intensifying training and readiness to combat many different types of situations. Training Officer Lt. Brian Crosby, of Greensboro, N.C., and his training teams have been running area-specific drills a few times per day to enhance the crew’s response to various threats or damage.

“This ramped up schedule was used to make the most of time out here,” said Crosby. “During CDOPS (counterdrug operations), there are times when you are extremely busy and times where you spend hours on patrol. We decided that if the ship was not engaged in a bust or boarding, we would get as much training completed as possible.”

Damage Controlman 2nd Class (SW) Troy Sage, of Brooklyn, N.Y., has come to appreciate the intensified training schedule that DeWert has seen. As the Flying Squad team leader, Sage and his team are the primary firefighters called into action when a casualty occurs.

“We were performing maybe two or three drills a week after we first arrived on station in December. There was just so much going on mission-wise that prevented us from focusing as much as we would like on training. Now that the ship has some down-time, we as a division are focusing all of our energy on damage control,” said Sage.

Just like the Flying Squad, the Engineering Department was unable to run as many drills as they would have liked to during the busier beginning of deployment, and are now taking more advanced training opportunities. BECCEs (Basic Engineering Casualty Control Exercises) are tailored to train the Engineering watchstanders to alarms, equipment failures, and any other plant casualties in the engineering spaces.

“The watchstanders have responded well to the increase in drills,” said Chief Warrant Officer Manuel Veloz, of El Paso, Texas, DeWert’s main propulsion assistant.

Unlike the Flying Squad, Veloz chooses to conduct his walkthroughs after the drill.

“We debrief and discuss how to improve our response at the same time,” explained Veloz, “Our system works so well for us that the watchstanders are asking for more drills so they can apply what they learned. They want to maintain their readiness to the point that the Flying Squad doesn’t have to respond.”

DeWert’s Search and Rescue (SAR) swimmers know very well what it means to be ready at a moment’s notice. Whenever something goes into the water, whether it is a shipmate or suspected contraband, the SAR swimmers are called upon to retrieve it. They had a chance to hone their skills recently when the ship conducted a man-overboard drill that phased directly into SAR training. During this exercise, one swimmer was lowered into the water to act as the simulated victim while another was tasked with rescuing him.

“It felt good to get our feet wet,” said Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class (SW) Benjamin Simpson, of Laney, N.C., “You can only read about what to do with a drowning victim so much until you really need to just get into the water and apply what you’ve learned.”

The Navigation Department also conducted an exercise amidst the other drills and evolutions, in which all electronic navigation systems, including Global Positioning System (GPS), were blacked out and the Navigation team had to still safely navigate the ship.

“It’s not unlike sailing on a wooden frigate during colonial times,” said ship’s Navigator Lt. j.g. David Hills, of Latham, N.Y. “Navigators have come to rely so much on electronic systems to guide the ship that sometimes we need to get a feel of what it’s like to maneuver a ship with only a chart of the ocean and the sky.”

Any disaster can catch even the most experienced crew unaware, and DeWert’s crew is determined to make sure they are prepared.

“DeWert's slogan is Clean, Train, Maintain” said Crosby. “As the Navy moves toward continuous training, it is even more important today than ever to always look for ways and times to train. Although it was tough, this week was a total success.”

DeWert, an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate homeported in Mayport, Fla., along with its SH-60B Seahawk detachment from Helicopter Anti-submarine Squadron Light (HSL) 48, is deployed under the operational control of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command as part of a Joint/Inter-Agency Task force conducting counter-narcotics trafficking operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. Also aboard is U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 406 embarked to support the counter narcotics mission.