San Diego Training Center Partners with SEAL Training Command

By Lt. Emily Castro, Training Support Center West Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Training Support Center (TSC) San Diego began a partnership with Naval Special Warfare Training Detachment 1, Nov. 21, to have students awaiting orders or for a school contribute to unit level training for deploying West Coast-based SEAL teams.

"The opportunity for our hold students to participate in this high-level training environment is invaluable - both in terms of direct support to the training mission and the indirect positive experience each student has after contributing to the training of our SEALs," said Capt. Antonio Cardoso, commanding officer, TSC San Diego.

The student volunteers are employed throughout the training in events such as close quarters combat, land warfare, visit, board, search and seizure, and special operations urban combat training. The students are tasked with a variety of jobs from setting up and taking down targets, picking up expended munitions casings, cooking meals, and cleaning, to acting as an opposing force against the SEAL elements.

"Having the students act as an opposing force benefits the SEALs because they can be chaotic and unpredictable due to their lack of specific awareness as to how the SEALs are trained and what their strategies are during combat," said Chief Special Warfare Operator Glen Davis. "Live action role players are a critical enhancement to our unit level training. Static paper targets provide a need for identification of friendly and unfriendly engagements, but when you introduce live people, it adds the dynamic of unpredictability and establishes a requirement to follow through the scenario by handling live personnel."

Unit level training is a vital series of readiness events that prepare SEAL teams to forward deploy to combat zones; the time allows for battlefield cohesion and enables platoons to come together as a single fighting unit. After unit level training, SEALs complete squadron integration training to incorporate their support personnel and fine tune all of their training in final preparation for deployment.

"Our relationship with Training Support Command San Diego has been incredible. Their support has almost become a requirement to maintain our training scenarios at their current level of complexity. We are grateful for the dedication and energy their staff puts into this program and look forward to their continued participation," said Davis.

"This is an experience that I normally wouldn't ever see in my job. It's cool to see other aspects of the Navy outside my rate," said Interior Communications Electrician Fireman Apprentice (SW) Brian Mares, a student at Fleet Antisubmarine Warfare Command.

TSC San Diego includes three geographically separate service support centers that support 15 independent learning sites within the San Diego region. The command supports both surface Navy and aviation schools and averages 60,000 students per year.