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thedrifter
04-14-09, 04:58 AM
Md. Academy Trained Maersk Alabama Marines
5 Crewmembers Trained At Eastern Shore Academy

POSTED: 5:27 pm EDT April 13, 2009
UPDATED: 6:57 pm EDT April 13, 2009

EASTON, Md. -- Five of the men on the Maersk Alabama, the ship attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Eden over the past week, were trained by the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association and attended the union's maritime academy on the Eastern Shore.

The Calhoon MEBA Engineering School in Easton uses a $2 million simulator to teach students how to stop pirates from boarding a vessel. Five of the men on the Maersk Alabama trained on the simulator.

"It became a little more tense, because one of them lives down the street here in St. Michaels. ... He's someone we see every day. I know his wife real well. So, it got very personal," said Barry Van Vechten, an assistant academic director at the school and a small firearms instructor.

Van Vechten said though merchant marines can't be armed when they're on board, they do study firearms, anti-terrorism and anti-piracy. Instruction includes simulated confrontations with rigid, inflatable boats full of armed assailants.

Van Vechten said the training may have helped the Maersk Alabama's crew
take their ship back.

"They obviously did something right. They got control and kept control of their vessel, and it all worked out in the end," he said.

He said he hopes to host the alum after they get home and use their experience in training.

The incident has instructors and students talking about possibly putting guns on vessels. Most agreed the short-term solution would probably be to put hired security personnel on the boats and let the marine engineers do their jobs.

Ellie