Damage Control

                     C077/K051 Feb 21, 1990-April 25, 1990

Who didn't like DC training?? Hell, I loved it. I was a cadet at my local volunteer Fire Department when I was a civilian. Other than the Naval history training, this was my favorite. I am a history nerd, so I loved the Naval history part.

Classroom DC was well, boring, but interesting. It was always fun to be in class with our sister company, K051. Yes, we all remember the rule, no talking. That did not stop us. I remember our CC’s impressing us about doing well on the DC portion of training and the test. We could earn a DC ribbon to put on that training period flag. I can’t remember if we won it or not. It was hard to see our flags on my PIR video. I found out one of our CC's was an instructor at the DC portion of boot camp, so that's why he wanted us to kick ass. 

The basics I already knew from my time in the fire department. But, the Navy has a system all its own when fighting fires. It has learned over the years how to deal with the unique problems associated with shipboard fires. OBA, AFFF, PKP, Halon. All those fun new words we learned.

The hands on portion of DC training was top-notch. We marched down the street past every other building to the south end of the base. We were the farthest away from the DC trainer.

I recall a short classroom session that morning as well. I am sure we were told about what was going to happen over the next couple of hours. All of us up on those goofy-looking raincoats and went outside for fun.

They gave us the “Training Time Out” procedure. If we ever felt we were in danger, we could call  TTO. I hope I recall this correctly. If not, I am sorry. But, I remember us being told out a TTO in our compartment at one time. Basically, if we called one, we had better be almost dead. Yes, it was there for our safety, but we had better no do it. I might add a little overdramatic about it, who knows.

Both companies went over to one side of the DC area and sat on the concrete. To an untrained person, it looked safe. In reality, all the water was funneled right at us as we sat. I hate to admit it, but the guys were worse about not wanting to get wet than the girls were. The first time the instructor fired off a hose, water went everywhere. The guys in its path jumped up. The girls didn't move, odd.

It was fun. All of them got yelled at. “SIT THE F DOWN! I DID NOT SAY TO MOVE!” (I am trying to keep the writing rated PG. I am sure we all know how colorful the language was at times.)

We had to learn how to stop a wild hose. That demonstration really got us wet. Members of both companies were allowed to do as they were just shown. The instructors had to know who was not the most athletic guys or girls because those are the ones they picked. 

The messiest demonstration was the AFFF. A small fire was started and allowed to burn for a short period. One of the instructors then proceeded to put it out using AFFF. By the way, that is Aqueous Film Forming Foam. And, don't call it  AF Cubed. We had a washed-out Nuke on my destroyer he always called it AF Cubed. Our DDC would get so mad when he did that. 

We were pretty soaked at this time. Then we were all allowed to fight a fire. Two hoses lay on the ground, one for each company. We were instructed on how to handle the nozzle and how to move up the hose.

Each recruit got his or her turn on the nozzle. Some were worried about going into the “building” with the fire, others like me were excited. I had trained on live fires previously, and it was always a rush. 

By the end of the training, we were all soaked. Yeah, it was killer. I bet both companies probably went off to the galley for some fine Navy Chow after that too.

I went to DC trainers 4 more times, along with Helo Crash and Smash school. Each time the Navy ramped up the fire on us. The helo school had a massive fire too. There is a youtube video of our team from Scott doing that training. I’ll track that down and add it in the comments a little later. Only had one real GQ for a fuel oil leak. If any of you faced a real one, you know how all that training just snapped into place.

Thank you all again!