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CID Stands Up New 'A' school

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS121004-22
10/4/2012

By Gary Nichols, Center for Information Dominance Public Affairs

GROTON, Conn. (NNS) -- The Center for Information Dominance (CID) Learning Site (LS) Groton conducted its first graduation ceremony for the Navy's newest "A" school, Sept. 21 at the Naval Submarine Learning Center here.

The Information Systems Technician Submarine (ITS) "A" school, which opened its doors last May, graduated 15 students after 19 weeks of rigorous training.

CID Commanding Officer, Capt. Susan Cerovsky, who was the guest speaker, emphasized the significance of this first-ever class as an ongoing effort to maintain the superiority of the U.S. Navy in the cyber realm.

"Cyber is the leading edge - the 'pointy-end of the spear' - of our National Security. It is currently the primary concern of the Chief of Naval Operations," she said. "As technology has changed, the IT rating has had to adapt to keep up with those changes, and this new 'A' School is the latest step in our evolution."

All of the Navy's "warfare disciplines" are heavily dependent on integrated "information technology" systems. To excel at warfighting you must master both offensive and defensive actions.

"The country is depending on us to continue expanding our capability to defend cyberspace," Cerovsky said. "To fulfill that challenge, we need outstanding Sailors and you are more than capable of meeting those challenges."

The Navy created the new ITS rate due to the ever-increasing demand for a Sailor who could be dedicated one-hundred percent to performing core and specialty functions aboard submarines.

In the past, working with networks was a collateral (part-time) duty performed by a knowledgeable individual outside of that individual's primary rate. As technology advanced the risk became too great as a collateral duty.

The establishment of ITS will provide the submarine force with an infrastructure of information assurance and network security warriors who will be fully trained and equipped to support defensive cyber operations.

Naval Administrative Message (NAVADMIN) 406/10, established the ITS rating in April 2010.

It initially had a time-limited provision for submarine-qualified Sailors with systems administration, network experience or NECs mainly from the submarine electronic computer field (SECF) ratings to apply for conversion to the new ITS rating.

That deadline has passed. Now, anyone who desires to become an ITS must go through all or part of the training pipeline, which consists of four phases of training.

The first phase - Basic Enlisted Submarine School (BESS) - is nine weeks long; the second phase - ITS "A" school - is 19 weeks long; the third phase - System Administration course (SysAdmin) - is 18 weeks long; and finally, the last phase - Submarine Local Area Network (SUBLAN) - is six weeks long.

ITS "A" school graduate ITS3 Garrin Butler said the school was challenging, especially at the beginning of the course. But just when he thought it was going to get easier, the instructors threw the students some curve balls and the course load became even more difficult.

CID LS Groton Site Director ITSC(SS) Kevin Dingman explained that Groton is the right place to train the new Information Systems Technician Submarine students, because they are learning their trade at the "Submarine Capital of the World."

"From the moment Sailors hit our doors, they are steeped in the submarine culture," he said. "Even though the training is long and difficult, our Sailors are very excited about becoming submariners and that is helping them to persevere and excel."

"As part of this first graduating class, you are now part of a unique Navy tradition, that of the plank owner," Cerovsky said.

Harking back to the days of wooden ships, a Sailor became a plank owner when he was a member of the original crew when that ship was placed in commission. That Sailor had bragging rights to the "ownership" of one of the main deck planks.

As a traditional service, when wooden ships eventually gave way to steam powered ships, and wooden decks were replaced by steel deckplates, the term plank owner still remained in use around the Navy.

"Today, the term plank owner continues to apply to crews of new ships, but also to members of newly-commissioned units and military bases and in this case the first graduating class of the Navy's newest "A" school," Cerovsky said. "Now each of you has your own bragging rights. You are all now a part of naval history."

CID is the Navy's Learning Center that leads, manages and delivers Navy and Joint Force training in information operations, information warfare, information technology, cryptology and intelligence.

With a staff of nearly 1,300 military, civilian and contracted staff members, CID oversees the development and administration of more than 226 courses at four commands, two detachments and 14 learning sites throughout the United States and in Japan. CID provides training for approximately 24,000 members of the U.S. Armed Services and Allied Forces each year.