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 trainingBy 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.