1. A proud member of the NAVAIR corporationA proud member of the NAVAIR corporation TSDnewsTSDnews May 2003 6
NEWPORT, R.I. (NNS)—Putting first-
line leaders on the front lines; that is the Navy’s
Surface Warfare Officers School, or SWOS.
Developing tomorrow’s surface warriors today
through blended curriculums featuring the
best resources available; that is the vision of
the Navy’s Revolution in Training.
SWOS capitalized on this vision as it devel-
oped a streamlined curriculum that provides
not only a greater amount of flexibility in indi-
vidual Sailors’ careers, but also provides the
Navy better prepared surface warriors, faster.
Traditionally, these junior officers spent the
first 27 months of their commission earning
warfare qualifications. This period
included a six-month stint at the
school and did not fully leverage
the shipboard environment into
their professional development.
“Under the old program, we
had to try to describe the way things
worked onboard without their
having any real life experience to
back up our lessons,” said school
Commanding Officer Capt. Ron
Brinkley. “Now our junior officers
come to us with six months of
on-the-job experience and training that directly
contributes to their development into surface
warriors. Our curriculum no longer focuses on
lectures, but individual experience.”
Pared down from six months to an inten-
sive three-week seminar based residency pro-
gram, SWOS is now using both traditional
and state-of-the-art learning resources backed
up by student experience. The course is taking
advantage of ship handling simulators, inter-
active computer-based warfare operations
scenarios, firefighting and flooding trainers,
and facilitator-led case studies.
“The new curriculum requires students to
share their knowledge and experiences in a
collaborative environment facilitated by our
staff,” said Brinkley. “Together, the wardrooms
– eight-to-10 students – engage in the practi-
cal application of their warfare knowledge in
various problem-solving scenarios, as a team,
as they would onboard their own commands.”
Prior to arriving at SWOS, warfare candi-
dates must complete a series of shipboard pre-
requisites that include becoming qualified as
officer of the deck (underway), earn basic dam-
age control and maintenance qualifications, and
demonstrate divisional leadership abilities. Dur-
ing this time, the warfare candidate will also
engage a learning performance system com-
prised of interactive courseware and practical
exercises, linked closely to existing personnel
qualification standards and their on-the-job
training. Through this system, the Sailor learns
basic theory in an independent environment
prior to engaging in first-hand execution.
“We partnered with the fleet right from
the start to ensure that we were creating a
process of development that was not only con-
sistent with those being institutionalized by
the Revolution in Training, but was compati-
ble with fleet needs,” said Brinkley. “Of
course, it is a dynamic process, and there will
be glitches along the way, but we will contin-
ue to foster our partnership to ensure the pro-
gram, and therefore our surface warriors, is
constantly improving and integrating the lat-
est resources and skills.”
Surface Warfare Officers School revolutionizes curriculum
By Journalist 1st Class Jd Walter, Naval Personnel Development Command Public Affairs
It’s not often that the Chief of Naval Opera-
tions stops by, to personally review your project.
But that’s exactly what happened in April, when
CNO Adm. Vern Clark and other Navy leaders
visited the “virtual reality” shiphandling trainer
classroom at Surface Warfare Officers School
Command in Newport, R.I. The official party
was there to mark progress related to the Revo-
lution in Navy Training within the surface com-
munity. SWOS representative Yeoman Chief
Ginamarie Doherty was on hand for the visit,
and comments, “It was the most rewarding
day of my Navy career – to have the CNO
walk directly over to me and shake my hand.
I was very impressed to meet him, and proud
of what we had to show his entire party.”
The April tour occurred just prior to the
start of a pilot tailored SWOS course for divi-
sion officers at SWOS. NAVAIR Orlando TSD
Surface and Expeditionary Warfare Program
Director John Freeman comments, “Program
Managers Daniel Patton, Jim Lau and Instruc-
tional Specialist Larry Beal, and the entire 11S
team were instrumental in preparing the class-
room for its new shiphandling trainers, which
were installed last month in time for school-
house use as part of a new, tailored surface war-
fare division officer curriculum. BZ to all! It is
also important to give credit to those in our
Research and Engineering Competency – Dr.
Robert Breaux, Bill Walker and the technical
team – who laid the groundwork for fielding
this type of virtual environment training tech-
nology through early investments by ONR in
such research and development initiatives as
VESUB and COVE.”
Beal adds, “Behind the scenes, there was an
NAVAIR Orlando TSD @ SWOS:
Preparing the classroom ... preparing the mariner
see TSD @ SWOS, page 7
(Foreground) Student is shown with headgear on,
seated at the controls of the shiphandling trainer,
as(left to right)Director,SurfaceWarfareRearAdm.
Harry Ulrich; Chief of Naval Operations Adm.Vern
Clark; Shiphandling Training Instructor Lt. Chuck
Hampton, and Commander, Naval Personnel Devel-
opment Command Rear Adm. J. Kevin Moran dis-
cuss new training technologies and curriculum in
the VS50 classroom at SWOS (U.S. Navy photo by
YNC Ginamarie Doherty, SWOS)
The transformation: Photos depict (from top) for-
mer classroom at SWOS, TSD’s Larry Beal as he
contemplates “ready state” of the new class-
room/technologies (U.S. Navy photos courtesy of
Jennifer Hug, TSD’s R.I. Surface ISE Site Office)

2. 7... Enhancing the Warfighter’s Ability to Win... Enhancing the Warfighter’s Ability to Win TSDnewsTSDnews May 2003
intense effort to be ready for the new class, and
to make sure the equipment was ready for train-
ing. The effort was accelerated by two months,
to accommodate the pilot course requested by
Commander, Naval Surface Forces Vice Adm.
Timothy LaFleur. The investment in time and
energy paid off smartly, and the new shiphan-
dling class for surface warriors seems to be
very well received.”
According to Beal, “The ensigns will go to
their first ship for intensive on-the-job training
and computer-based training, then back to the
three-week tailored SWOS course. The newly
installed simulators are part of the course. The
classroom has six trainers installed to accommo-
date the trainees, with one instructor station
per trainer.”
Spirits are running high at the SWOS. Team-
mate Jennifer Hug of TSD’s In-service Engi-
neering Office at the Newport school adds,
“I’m new to NAVAIR Orlando, but I’ve never
seen a project go more smoothly. It has been
gratifying to be a part of it.”
Accompanying the CNO for a first look at
the classroom were: Director, Surface Warfare
Rear Adm. Harry Ulrich, and Commander,
Naval Personnel Development Command Rear
Adm. J. Kevin Moran. SWOS Commanding
Officer Capt. Ron Brinkley, Ship-
handling Training Instructor Lt.
Chuck Hampton, and Curricu-
lum and Instructional Standards
Officer David Monroe were on
hand to host the official party.
Following the CNO visit
and during the first offering of
the new shiphandling training
course, Monroe said, “It is going
extremely well here. This is
cutting-edge technology that
will make it possible to align
nearly the entire opportunity
for shiphandling training with
the bridge wings and ward-
rooms of ships. It eventually
will also provide the
potential for mission
rehearsal, and when we
can incorporate ade-
quate intelligent tutor-
ing, it will be a phenom-
enal tool for proficiency
development and
improvement. SWOS
enjoys a very close working relationship with
NAVAIR Orlando TSD, and we are among
TSD’s most avid supporters and proponents.
TSD is rock solid with SWOS!"
TSD @ SWOS from page 6
(Clockwise, from
top) Personnel dur-
ing trainer checkout
prior to the initiation
of pilot course, up-
graded shiphandling instructor station,
and upgraded trainee stations in ship-
handling classroom – ready for training!
(U.S. Navy photos courtesy of Jennifer
Hug, TSD’s R.I. Surface ISE Site Office)
Nimmo had spoken with Dr. Cris Johnsrud,
formerly a member of the FLC Southeast Region
support office at the University of Florida, about
TSD’s project to capture knowledge and infor-
mation from experienced artisans to pass down
to their successors. Nimmo also commented to
Johnsrud, who has a doctorate in anthropology,
about Major’s particular skills in delving into
organizational cultures. A sidebar comment
from Nimmo that this was “similar to what
anthropologists might do to establish mutual
trust and clear communication quickly, so that
people can exchange the right information”
led Johnsrud to confirm that is exactly the
nature of knowledge capture in anthropology!
Johnsrud, who is now with Pathfinder Re-
search, Inc., will join TSD’s CRADA partner Dr.
Linda Lampl (Lampl Herbert Consultants, Inc.)
and Dr. Susan Squires (Tactics, LLC) in this effort.
“All three of us are practicing anthropologists
who have worked with corporations, govern-
ment agencies, community groups, and industry
associations,” Johnsrud says, “and we really are
excited about working with Rex on this program!
We believe the approaches we bring to the table
will adapt well to military work environments.
Based on our collaboration with Rex and on
our own experience, we will design a prototype
training activity that will enable selected Navy
personnel to learn how to utilize the research-
based methodologies of ethnography to capture
critical knowledge and know-how.”
She continues, “Your readers may be inter-
ested to know that anthropology is the study
of humankind in all of its aspects. Cultural
anthropology, one of the four subdivisions of
anthropology, focuses on the study of human
culture as it comprises traditional tribal com-
munities, ethnic neighborhoods, geographic
regions, or even divisions of corporations. Prac-
ticing anthropologists use theoretical models
of cultural systems and ethnographic methods
of data collection, to help decision-makers and
others design ways to adapt to new and chang-
ing conditions. We collect quantitative and
qualitative information about environment,
customs, beliefs, social groupings, production,
economic exchange, law, conflict resolution,
and other areas of everyday work and life to
understand how they contribute to both suc-
cessful and unsuccessful outcomes.”
Dr. Linda Lampl, who works with other
federal research and development laboratories,
observes, “The ethnographic method calls for
the people of interest – in this case, the artisans
– to teach the interested others or outsiders
about ‘the way we do things here.’ Our team
will work with Rex to develop training to trans-
fer ethnography’s hallmark techniques – partic-
ipant observation and interviewing – to Navy
personnel who need to find out such things as
what it means to do a specific task or to do a
specific set of tasks or job. Ethnographers are,
in some respects, like journalists: we’re inter-
ested in the five Ws and the how; we just tend
to have a longer deadline.”
“We learn – and will teach – that ethno-
graphy says it’s okay to be nosey, to ask lots of
questions, to go beyond questions set out on
an interview guide, to invent questions and
ways of asking,” Lampl added.
See the connection?
Nimmo and Major did, and last month TSD
Commanding Officer Capt. Andy Mohler and
Dr. Linda Lampl, Lampl Herbert Consultants,
signed the CRADA. Lampl Herbert Consul-
tants, Pathfinder Research, Inc., and Tactics,
LLC, are all small, woman-owned businesses.
Lampl Herbert and Pathfinder are based in
Florida; Tactics is based in California.
The outcome? Possibly, a new blend of
social science and simulation – with positive
results for military activities which support
the warfighter.
Knowledge Capture from page 1