O Night School - continuous shifts of electronics instruction at Naval Center Great Lakes, Illinois - Brief Article

All Hands, July, 2001 by Jim Watson

IT SEEMS THERE ARE NEVER ENOUGH HOURS IN THE DAY. THIS IS ESPECIALITY TRUE at Naval Training Center Great Lakes, Ill., where scores of "A" and "C" school students roll through training monthly. Here, on the campus of Tech Corps, a preliminary "A" school that teaches the basics of electronics, the strain of not enough time and space can surely be seen-- and felt -- because they are putting troops though classes almost around the clock. They begin at 6 a.m. and finish up at midnight.

"We have three shifts of classes here at Tech Corps," said LT Mike Hassenger, who is in charge of the pre-"A" school. "The students go from 6 a.m. to noon, noon to 6 p.m., and then 6 p.m. to midnight. All in all, there are 18 hours of continuous training here."

This may seem a little strange, but when you have 1,429 students like Seaman Apprentice Dwayne Foster who is preparing in limited space for fire controlman "A" school, you have to do something a little off the wall.

"I don't mind going to school on the last shift," said Foster, as he stared down the clock hoping to hurry along the next two hours so he and his 424 classmates on the 6 p.m. to midnight shift can get some sleep. "It can be hard though. Especially on Fridays seeing all your friends heading out and on liberty."

The classes, which consist of up to 36 students, teach either instructor-based labs and instruction in electronics, or the self-paced lessons, which are proving to be quite popular in curriculum. In the self-paced lesson style, students use a computer to learn electronic functions, test out units and see the instructors only when they get stuck on a problem. The school deals mainly with electronic technicians and fire controlman and has instructors from San Diego Community College.