By
LEUT James Harper
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Sea
Warrior will ensure CTGs and combatants maintain warfighting
effectiveness.
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Photo:
AB Neil Richards
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On
September 10 the Chief of Navy, VADM Chris Ritchie, approved the
implementation of a revised continuum for Principal Warfare Officer
(PWO) training in the RAN.
With effect from 2004 this is an important step in ensuring Navy
remains able to provide appropriately trained officers to fight
in its ships.
Directed at providing the right level of training at the right
time, PWO training will now be delivered in two components.
The first will qualify officers as PWOs in a ‘private ship’.
Course duration will be approximately 21 weeks, culminating in
a sea-assessment period.
Graduates will be awarded their PWO qualification and proceed
to PWO positions in the Fleet.
On completion of this first posting PWOs will undertake the second
component.
Training will be conducted as an additional qualification with
successful completion denoted by the addition of an appropriate
suffix (ADQUAL) to their PWO qualification.
On graduation, officers will be able to provide Commander Task
Group (CTG) staff level skills having studied the concepts of
force management, task group duties and their relevant sub-specialisations.
All surface combatants will carry a mix of PWO and PWO (ADQUAL)
officers appropriate to their expected level of tasking.
In addition to maintaining warfighting effectiveness, this mix
will allow for mentoring and experience to be developed as part
of the continuum.
The head of the Surface Warfare Community (HSWC), CDRE Davyd Thomas,
said, “This initiative represents a significant achievement
for the Warfare Community.
“It’s about streamlining training and improving career
management to match our capability requirements.
“It’s also about building experience into our training
continuum and providing officers with the opportunity to develop
their skills in a mentoring environment.
“This is one of a number of initiatives that we’re working
on under Program Sea Warrior to improve the state of our warfare
workforce.”
