thedrifter
07-29-07, 05:33 PM
After final class, OCS to move north in fall
By Zachary M. Peterson - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jul 29, 2007 11:36:05 EDT
The last class of officer candidates will graduate in September from Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. — the result of a Base Closure and Realignment Commission decision handed down by Congress in 2005.
Naval officer candidates have attended officer candidate school in Pensacola since 1994, when a previous BRAC decision merged the existing aviation officer training in Pensacola with all other officer training from Newport, R.I. Beginning Aug. 19, the first class of officer candidates will train in Newport.
The move back to Newport after over a decade in the Florida panhandle will not alter the OCS curriculum or the nature of the training, the Navy said.
The final OCS class in Pensacola began training July 1 and graduates Sept. 21.
This class, known as “Class 20” — the 20th class to conduct training this year — has a unique place in history, Lt. Luke Patterson, the class officer, told Navy Times.
Unlike other classes who have the opportunity to mentor the class behind them, Class 20 will not have that chance.
“The mentoring opportunity is missing,” Patterson explained. “But overall they’re still getting quality training, though we lose that in-house feel of one class to another.”
The candidates don’t have “an emotional tie” to the OCS of 10 or 20 years ago, Patterson noted, but he said they possess a “mental understanding.”
“They are well aware of their place in history,” Patterson said.
Class 20 is a particularly strong group of officer candidates, he added.
“As a whole class, this is one of the better classes I’ve seen here,” he said.
Patterson went through OCS in Pensacola in 1999. He said for him personally, the move to Newport is “bittersweet.”
“There’s mixed feelings,” he said. “A lot of the old-timers feel sadness that some of the tradition and heritage will be lost, but you always have to press on and figure out what’s best.”
OCS is a 13-week course for new non-commissioned, unrestricted and restricted line officers. Training includes initial military drill training conducted by Marine Corps drill instructors along with academic training. Nearly 100 hours are spent practicing drill. The Marine instructors will move north as well. Academic training includes classes on damage control, engineering, leadership, military law, naval history, navigation and seamanship, according to the Navy.
About 800 officer candidates pass through OCS each year, and about 90 percent become naval officers, the Navy says. Around half of the new ensigns become naval aviators, while the rest become surface warfare officers, submarine officers or members of a number of other naval military specialties.
Flight training school will remain in Pensacola at Naval Aviation Schools Command. Navy aviators have been trained at the air station since the 1930s.
Ellie
By Zachary M. Peterson - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jul 29, 2007 11:36:05 EDT
The last class of officer candidates will graduate in September from Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. — the result of a Base Closure and Realignment Commission decision handed down by Congress in 2005.
Naval officer candidates have attended officer candidate school in Pensacola since 1994, when a previous BRAC decision merged the existing aviation officer training in Pensacola with all other officer training from Newport, R.I. Beginning Aug. 19, the first class of officer candidates will train in Newport.
The move back to Newport after over a decade in the Florida panhandle will not alter the OCS curriculum or the nature of the training, the Navy said.
The final OCS class in Pensacola began training July 1 and graduates Sept. 21.
This class, known as “Class 20” — the 20th class to conduct training this year — has a unique place in history, Lt. Luke Patterson, the class officer, told Navy Times.
Unlike other classes who have the opportunity to mentor the class behind them, Class 20 will not have that chance.
“The mentoring opportunity is missing,” Patterson explained. “But overall they’re still getting quality training, though we lose that in-house feel of one class to another.”
The candidates don’t have “an emotional tie” to the OCS of 10 or 20 years ago, Patterson noted, but he said they possess a “mental understanding.”
“They are well aware of their place in history,” Patterson said.
Class 20 is a particularly strong group of officer candidates, he added.
“As a whole class, this is one of the better classes I’ve seen here,” he said.
Patterson went through OCS in Pensacola in 1999. He said for him personally, the move to Newport is “bittersweet.”
“There’s mixed feelings,” he said. “A lot of the old-timers feel sadness that some of the tradition and heritage will be lost, but you always have to press on and figure out what’s best.”
OCS is a 13-week course for new non-commissioned, unrestricted and restricted line officers. Training includes initial military drill training conducted by Marine Corps drill instructors along with academic training. Nearly 100 hours are spent practicing drill. The Marine instructors will move north as well. Academic training includes classes on damage control, engineering, leadership, military law, naval history, navigation and seamanship, according to the Navy.
About 800 officer candidates pass through OCS each year, and about 90 percent become naval officers, the Navy says. Around half of the new ensigns become naval aviators, while the rest become surface warfare officers, submarine officers or members of a number of other naval military specialties.
Flight training school will remain in Pensacola at Naval Aviation Schools Command. Navy aviators have been trained at the air station since the 1930s.
Ellie