USS RONALD REAGAN HOST COMMITTEE ANNOUNCE GALA EVENT

Navy League of The United States - Santa Barbara Chapter

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Operation Homefront

MOTT Provides Valuable Training
For Weapons Personnel

FOR RELEASE: 2/13/2007

By Chief Mass Communication Specialist (SW/AW) Donnie Ryan,
USS Ronald Reagan Public Affairs

USS RONALD REAGAN, At sea, February 13 -- Sailors assigned to USS Ronald Reagan's (CVN 76) Weapons Department completed hands-on training Feb. 14, an effort designed to help them be more proficient in their daily duties and to score better in the upcoming advancement cycle.

Two members of the Mobile Ordnance Training Team (MOTT), sponsored by Commander, Naval Air Forces, helped Sailors from Weapon's G-3 Division learn the practical side of ordnance assembly.

The team, which has members on both the east and west coasts, provides training to Navy and Marine Corps units when requested. MOTT Instructor Wayne Gronbach said more than 70 Sailors have attended the training since Ronald Reagan departed San Diego on Jan. 27 for her current surge deployment.

“The Sailors tend to absorb the knowledge a lot more when we come out to do the training as opposed to learning everything from a book,” said Gronbach. Both he and a colleague have been teaching classes both day and night for G-3 personnel.

According to Gronbach, the primary mission of the team is to provide on-site aviation ordnance intermediate level maintenance- including inspection, assembly, weapons testing, and ammunition sentencing refresher training to both ashore and afloat activities.

The training is designed for both Sailors new to the rating and those with years of experience. Sentencing training was targeted to first and second class petty officers as a refresher for vertical replenishment (VERTREP) and connected replenishment (CONREP) ordnance handling evolutions, said Gronbach.

“MOTT has been around since the 1980s,” said Gronbach. “We are always flexible when it comes to the ship's underway schedule, drills and ordnance movements.”

Gronbach, who has more than 20 years of experience in the aviation ordnance community, said a visit by the MOTT has a direct impact on rating knowledge and advancement exams.

“It's a huge help to the Sailors to have this team out here just prior to the March exam,” he said.

“It's training they're not going to get anywhere else, and it will be a huge help to those Sailors studying for the advancement exam,” said Chief Aviation Ordnanceman (AW/SW) Edwin Camacho.

Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Daniel Mehaffie said the training allowed him to learn about publications and inspection criteria, as well as giving him valuable training on missiles, which he considers to be his weakest area of rating knowledge.

“When it comes down to actually doing the job, I've already had the hands-on experience,” said Mehaffie. “It helped me a lot with the missile side of being an ‘AO.'”

According to Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Matthew Schneider, who has been in the Navy for just over a year, the training was important because it provided hands-on experience.

“A lot of what we learned in this class is already in the books,” said Schneider. “Getting the practical knowledge should help me pass the test.”

Ronald Reagan was commissioned in July, 2003, making it the ninth and newest Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The ship is named after the 40th U.S. president, and carries the motto of “Peace through Strength,” a recurrent theme during the Reagan presidency.

The Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group departed San Diego Jan. 27 on a surge deployment in order to fill the role of USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), the Navy's only permanently forward deployed aircraft carrier, as it undergoes scheduled maintenance in Yokuska, Japan.

For related news, visit the USS Ronald Reagan Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/cvn76/