NOB, Norfolk, VA –
Norfolk, Va. (NNS)-Director, Fleet Maintenance U.S Fleet Forces Command Rear Adm. Mark R. Whitney and Commander, Navy Regional Maintenance Center Rear Adm. James P. Downey were on hand for Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center’s (MARMC) Navy Afloat Maintenance Training Strategy (NAMTS) graduation Feb. 12 at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, VA.
MARMC Sailors enrolled in NAMTS receive on-the-job, rating-specific training, which helps them earn up to 14 different Navy Enlisted Classifications (NECs).
This was the largest graduating class in MARMC’s history, with 141 Sailors earning certificates in Shipfitting, Pipefitting, Valve Repair, Rigger/Weight Test, Welder/Brazer, Outside Electrical Repair Technician, Outside Machinist, Heat Exchanger, and Watertight Closure Maintenance.
Rear Adm. Whitney presented the graduates with their certificates and congratulated them on their accomplishments, and then Rear Adm. Downey spoke briefly about the importance of NAMTS.
“We are really relying on you all to take this knowledge and teach the Sailors on the ship, as well as fill in the intermediate-level area to allow us to return these ships back to their operational state,” said Downey. We have a significant amount of ships coming into availabilities at around 100. We are very much reliant on the capabilities you have learned and also for you to move forward and teach those Sailors aboard ship how to maintain those systems.”
“The Secretary of Defense has three priorities: readiness, wholeness and future capabilities,” said Whitney. “The future capabilities are the drive to get to a 355 ship Navy. Readiness is all about afloat maintenance. Wholeness is all about afloat maintenance. Future capabilities is all about afloat maintenance. What does the AM in NAMTS stand for? Afloat Maintenance. That’s you; that’s you now at the RMC, and that’s you when you go back to the ship,” he said.
“When you do leave MARMC and head back to your ship I challenge you to do everything you can to fix it first onboard the ship with you guys. We have gotten too easy at just flying a casualty report request onboard tech assist. Fix and use what you have learned here and be proactive aboard your ship. Fix yourself first and then ask for help. Afloat Maintenance that’s you, you’re in all three priorities of the Secretary of Defense and in the way this is headed.”
NAMTS training is available to Sailors on shore duty at Regional Maintenance Centers (RMCs), Intermediate Maintenance Activities or Facilities (IMAs or IMFs), shipyards, aboard tenders, as well as those stationed on ships undergoing extended maintenance availabilities.
For more information about NAMTS, visit: https://www.portal.navy.mil/crmc/namts (Common Access card (CAC) enabled site).