• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Coast Guard Cutter Conducts Training at Little Creek

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS070216-28
Release Date: 2/16/2007 10:00:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joseph R. Wax, Fleet Public Affairs Center Atlantic

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (NNS) -- The seagoing buoy tender USCGC Juniper (WLB 201), homeported in Newport, R.I., conducted underway training drills Feb. 12 in the Chesapeake Bay.

The training was a part of a two-week evolution, Feb. 5 through 16, conducted by the Norfolk-based Afloat Training Group (ATG) Atlantic at Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) Little Creek. ATG assesses the ship's ability to conduct damage control, firefighting, towing, anchoring, abandon ship, medical, loss of power, mooring, and rescue and assistance drills.

"These two weeks ensure that their personnel have the proper training and can meet or exceed any challenges they may see day to day," said Coast Guard Damage Controlman 1st Class Eli Loftus, a damage control subject matter expert (SME) at ATG. "We have intense qualification standards. They're leaving here with the proper training to combat any casualty.”

Both Navy and Coast Guard ATG members constantly evaluate cutters throughout the year. Each Coast Guard cutter is required to go through the ATG process every 12 months.

“For us this is a great opportunity,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Rick Wester, Juniper’s commanding officer. “Throughout the year we keep really busy.

Taking these two weeks and focusing on the drills is a great way to continue to improve our readiness. ATG gives us insight into things we may be missing or helpful hints they have learned from other ships.”

Navy members of ATG offer the Coast Guard a unique perspective on their shipboard operations.

“The Navy riders help us out with a lot of specialized stuff like radio and classified equipment and with the medical portion,” added Wester. “Since 9/11 our services are working closely together. Whether it is the Coast Guard helping the Navy with national defense or the Navy helping the Coast Guard with homeland security, any way we can continue to work together will only help us out.”

ATG’s training focuses not only on running drills correctly, but also getting everyone familiar with the different aspects of each drill.

“We want to ensure that junior people can stand up into a more senior role even though they haven’t been to the school,” said Loftus. “Because of a casualty at sea, it may become necessary.”

To Wester, getting his people the experience they need is what these two weeks are all about.

“What we are really developing is our people,” stated Wester. “We can have all the machinery and electronics in the world, but in an emergent scenario it comes down to properly training your people and making sure they know how to use the tools appropriately.”

According to Coast Guard Chief Operations Specialist Michael Padgett, a navigation and operation SME with ATG, Juniper was in good shape before the two-week training exercise, so they will leave as prepared as possible.

“The Juniper has been an excellent ship,” said Padgett. “We started their training by going to their homeport and doing a thorough inspection and they had very few discrepancies. It is one of the better I have seen in two-and-a-half years on board. We aren’t fixing problems so we could focus on the training.”

Upon completion of the training, Juniper will travel up the Potomac River to Washington, where it will stop for a few days before returning to its homeport.