12 hours to test a Sailor

For 10 years it has been a right-of-passage for everyone coming out of Recruit Training Command (RTC), Great Lakes. For the recruits it's their last test before they head out into the world as full-fledged Sailors. For the recruit division commanders (RDC) this is how their success in training their company is gauged. When it was conceived, this test, known as Battle Stations, was described by then-RTC Commander, Capt. Cory Whitehead as, "... one of the most important things the Navy's done in Boot Camp in the last decade."

Not much had changed since then. Sailors about to graduate Boot Camp have spent the night being subjected to this test to prove to their facilitators and themselves they have what it takes to be a Sailor in the U.S. Navy. But no matter how impressive or extensive the test was, there was still room for improvement.

Battle Stations, as it had been conducted for several years, consisted of 13 events and took about 14 hours to complete. According to Operations Specialist 1st Class Michael Carr, a recruit division commander and a Battle Stations facilitator, these events were historically accurate but not completely seamless.

"Those 13 events were based on historic events that took place in the fleet anywhere from World War II, to the Vietnam era, through the 1990s and the attack on USS Cole (DDG 67) in 2000," said Carr. "Those events operated independently from each other."

"There was no continuity between the different scenarios," added Chief Aviation Electronics Technician Tim McKinley, Battle Stations-21 leading chief petty officer.

Suggestions for improvements were constantly coming in. Due to space and configuration limitations, the infrastructure of Battle Stations was difficult to update. It was clear the concept was sound, but the facilities had to be improved to allow for expanded improvements to the total system.

According to Airman Recruit Tamikca Smith, a newly-capped Sailor, the legacy Battle Stations was good but lacked realism.

"You have to use your imagination as to what it would be like on a ship vs. actually being on a ship and seeing it firsthand," said Smith.

To add to the realism, a structure was conceived and constructed to house a new training tool, Battle Stations-21, which is the USS Trayer (BST-21), a simulated Arleigh Burke-class, guided missile destroyer. It is now the pinnacle of Boot Camp training. It's now the most realistic, high tech, challenging test ever put into use at Recruit Training Command, but much like the legacy Battle Stations everything is based on events that have shaped the Navy of today.

"Everything we do at Battle Stations-21 is steeped in naval history," said McKinley. "Every event is based on something that actually occurred in the Navy or is something that they will do. A perfect example of that is the mass casualty [scenario]. It's based on the events aboard Cole. That portion of the simulator closely replicates what happened on Cole in October 2000, as close as we could possibly make it. The sights, the sounds, the smells, that level of realism will hopefully enable Sailors to recognize that if they work together as a team they can save a ship with a huge hole in the side of it from sinking. That's what those Sailors on Cole did and that's what we're trying to impress upon these [recruits]."

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Attaining that level of realism has taken a great deal of effort. There are specially designed effects and extremely realistic settings that transform Trayer from a classroom into what appears to be a fully functional U.S. naval warship.

The entire pier is like a set on a giant stage with interchangeable pieces that can make it appear as though the ship has traveled from Norfolk to Yorktown, Va., without having moved an inch. While the crew is conducting at sea watches, the facilitators are moving the backdrops and changing the location of key pieces of equipment to create the illusion that Trayer has sailed and is pulling into a different port.

It's not just the surroundings that add to the realism, there are several people who work behind the scenes to monitor and control the entire night. Everything involved in this marathon of a test is tied together through miles of computer network cables and wireless connections that allow the facilitators to access a world of information to keep their teams safe.

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According to Electronics Technician 1st Class Jeff Gustafson, an RDC and a BST-21 facilitator, there isn't a place on Trayer he can't access the network to ensure his team is tracked and safe.

"In every scenario there are controls on the bulkhead that let us stop the scenario if we have to," noted Gustafson. "We also have personal digital assistants (PDAs) we carry with us that let us access the objectives, safety brief point and debrief information for each scenario."

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The PDAs also allow the facilitators to note anytime a recruit isn't following their instructions.