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CASTLETON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - Two New York Naval Militia boat crews refined their watercraft handling skills while also executing emergency response drills during a day of training on the Hudson River at Schodack Island State Park here on Friday, July 25.
The exercise, in which eight Naval Militia Sailors on patrol boats 220 and 221 executed a missing person drill, investigated a bomb threat, and set up a boat-traffic exclusion zone also provided training for a three-person command party on shore manning the Naval Militia’s mobile command trailer.
The goal, explained Naval Militia Cmdr. Don McKnight, commander of the Naval Militia’s Military Emergency Boat Service, was to integrate command and control with boat handling training and tasks the Naval Militia would be asked to perform during an emergency response.
The scenarios were designed to exercise improvements in communications procedures identified during the Naval Militia’s participation in the state response to Superstorm Sandy in November 2012, McKnight explained.
A key goal for this exercise was using computer communications to pass orders from the New York National Guard Joint Operation Center to the Naval Militia forces on the ground. The command team on the river bank then used radios and sometimes cellphones to pass along new missions.
The 25-foot boats were crewed with a mix of experienced Naval Militia boat handlers and members of the Navy Reserve who were new to small boats.
The new Naval Militia members got a chance to practice piloting the boat as well as learning the skills involved in approaching a floating object in the river and mooring the boat, said Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Hill.
The Hudson River can be especially tricky because currents are always changing depending on the time of the day and the weather, Hill said.
The July 25 training exercise was significant because the Naval Militia members who were also Navy Reserve members were being paid for a federal drill day to take part in the exercise.
Because the training is useful to the Navy Reserve members in their federal role, they can be paid for conducting the exercise, explained Cmdr. Vincent Perry, the commanding officer of Navy Operational Support Center Schenectady.
The opportunity to get out on a boat, learn new skills, and practice tasks, was a great way to spend the day, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Anthony Mushaw, one of the Naval Reserve Sailors who participated.
Most of the 2,700 members of the New York Naval Militia are members of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Reserve who have volunteered to serve the state when asked. They are paid by New York when on state active duty, but most of the time when they train for Naval Militia specific tasks they do so in a volunteer status.
The Naval Militia is part of the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs which is also responsible for the 16,000 members of the New York Army and Air National Guard.
A small number of Naval Militia members – five percent of the total force - are volunteers, like Hill, who are normally retired military personnel but who no longer belong to the reserves or active Navy or Marine Corps.
Integrating Sailors being paid for a Navy Reserve drill day with Naval Militia volunteers is significant, because it makes it more likely that dual-status Naval Militia members can participate in training, said Naval Militia Capt. Ten Eyck “Trip” Powell, the Naval Militia’s deputy commander of operations.
The Naval Militia has the equipment but not the money to pay personnel, while the Navy Reserve can pay Sailors but doesn’t have the boats to train on, Powell said.
| Date Taken: | 07.25.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 07.30.2014 14:22 |
| Story ID: | 137735 |
| Location: | CASTLETON-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 160 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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