GULFPORT, Miss. - The Navy is responsible for more than just sailing the seven seas. “We’re responsible for the bottom of the ocean all the way to the top of the atmosphere,” said Chris Olsen, Information Warfare Training Group Gulfport’s physical scientist and Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) training lead for the Meteorology and Oceanography (METOC) community. A group of civilian and military instructors from the IWTG train the people responsible for making sure the Navy can operate and dominate on land, air, surface and sub-surface domains. The mission of Information Warfare Training Group-Gulfport is to develop naval war-fighters through tailored education and operational training of information warfare that is capable of achieving military objectives in and from the maritime domain. METOC training, geared mostly toward Aerographer’s Mates (AG), has taken place in Gulfport for more than two decades. AGs are the Navy’s METOC forecasters, trained in various aspects of meteorology and physical oceanography. “Every single thing that the Navy does (is) within the environment,” said Olsen. “Instead of fixing or operating a piece of gear … we describe the operating environment (from which) pieces of gear are operating in and communicate the impacts of the atmosphere and ocean to the war-fighter" (such as impacts to radar on surface ships or sonar on submarines). The group is pivotal in providing the fleet with the quality sailors trained in the fields of cyber, electronic warfare, cryptology, intelligence and meteorology and oceanography to support the Optimized Fleet Response Plan, and forward-deployed naval forces. Olsen, a retired Chief AG, summed up what he enjoys most about training sailors. “Seeing the look in a sailor’s eyes as the lightbulb comes on in their head when I explain something that finally makes sense to them.” (Source: NCBC Gulfport 02/17/21) DVIDS - News - Gulfport Navy instructors train Sailors monitoring the world from top to bottom (dvidshub.net)
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