Gettysburg Certifies Ahead Of Schedule

Gettysburg was scheduled to conduct the FEP at the beginning of May, but due to the performance of the crew and training teams, Gettysburg met the FEP criteria early.

Gettysburg is nearing the conclusion of its training cycle, which began less than five months ago. Since then, Gettysburg has been certified in each warfare area, many times ahead of schedule and in an unprecedented manner. Gettysburg underwent the Unit Level Training "E" assessment and certified its engineering department months in advance of the standard Engineering Operational Control certification. This feat was a first for an Atlantic fleet cruiser.

Additionally, whether during various Fleet Synthetic Trainers, Cruise Missile Tactical Certification, or any other training scenario, Gettysburg Sailors have exceeded expectations each time.

The ITT and FEP evaluations represent the culmination of all recent training. Since the beginning of the training cycle, each major warfare or training area has had a training team assigned to it: Force Protection, Damage Control, Engineering, Seamanship, Medical, and Combat Systems.

Each team was assessed on their own ability to train the watchstanders and on their ability to integrate with the other teams to provide complex scenarios. Additionally, the ability of the watchstanders to successfully perform in a training environment was evaluated. These training scenarios were not isolated to any specific warfare area, rather they combined a variety of compounding casualties, threats, and tasking. ITT coordinator Lt.j.g. Carey Rouse said he was thrilled with the superb performance of Gettysburg's warriors.

"The training teams came together in a compressed period of time to, not only train the crew, but to coordinate an outstanding battle problem and execute it flawlessly," Rouse said.