APRIL 9, 2021 – Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr. Kathleen Hicks visited Naval Air Station Pensacola and Corry Station April 8 to tour facilities and meet with Naval Education and Training Command (NETC), Naval Air Station Pensacola (NASP), Center for Information Warfare Training (CIWT), and Information Warfare Training Command (IWTC) personnel and senior leadership.
The visit marked the first opportunity for Dr. Hicks to visit Pensacola since assuming her position on Feb. 9, 2021. Upon arriving to NAS Pensacola, Secretary Hicks met with Rear Adm. Pete Garvin, commander, Naval Education and Training Command, and Capt. Tim Kinsella, commanding officer of NAS Pensacola.
“Naval Air Station Pensacola and Corry Station play a particularly significant role in building a fleet that is ready to fight and win across the spectrum of conflict,” said Garvin. “Our training provides rigorous professional military education for all branches of our military and our international partners.”
Following a brief discussion with Garvin and Kinsella, Hicks was given a tour of NAS Pensacola. The particular focus of the tour was to highlight the damage caused by Hurricane Sally when the category II storm made landfall near NAS Pensacola on Sept. 16, 2020. The installation is still recovering from the storm that caused significant damage to the installation and local area.
“It was honor to have Deputy Secretary Hicks at NAS Pensacola – “The Cradle of Naval Aviation,” said Kinsella. “This was a great opportunity to showcase how important this base is to the entire Department of the Defense enterprise, and especially to Naval Aviation and Navy Information Warfare.”
During her visit to NASP, Hicks had lunch with students from Naval Aviation Schools Command where she discussed current challenges facing the military.
Hicks completed her visit at CIWT and IWTC Corry Station to review information warfare (IW) training initiatives and discuss current and future training for the nation’s rapidly changing IW missions, capabilities and roles with CIWT’s Commanding Officer Capt. Marc Ratkus and staff.
“Dr. Hicks’ visit was a great opportunity to accelerate top-level discussions on how we continue to transform the development and delivery of the right training at the right time in the right way for our information warfare professionals,” shared Ratkus. “The CIWT team is committed to modernizing the IW community’s career-long learning continuum, while also ensuring our warriors remain the asymmetric advantage necessary for our nation to prevail in this age of Great Power Competition.”
Hicks also presented coins to personnel and participated in a technology demonstration of the Multipurpose Reconfigurable Training System 3D® (MRTS 3D®), an example of the Navy’s Ready, Relevant Learning (RRL) modernized training delivery.
RRL is a long-term investment in improving individual Sailor performance and enhancing fleet readiness with three major components that address the when, how and where we train.
MRTS 3D® provides a virtual reality training environment that mimics video games through flat panel touch-screens, giving students the ability to perform multiple “reps and sets” through hands-on training and build upon muscle memory before actually interacting with physical equipment or systems. MRTS 3D® is a great example of training outside the traditional classroom, and one of the highly effective aspects of the MRTS 3D® training solutions is that it can be aligned for individual training, where every student has their own independent simulation, or the hardware can be rearranged to simulate a larger system for team training. The training still requires instructors, but does not necessitate an entire building full of classrooms and associated infrastructure.
Courtesy Story
Naval Education and Training Command