On Base: Naval Station Great Lakes
Simulation Makes A SplashBy Julie Dawson
Winter 2007-08
It’s one of the most high-tech ships in the United States Navy, but you’ll never see it on the water.
The USS Trayer at the Navy’s Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes,
The Trayer is a 210-foot-long replica of a guided-missile destroyer, part of the new Battle Stations 21. Any sailor will recognize Battle Stations 21 as the name of the final rite of passage in Navy boot camp: 12 long hours of physical, emotional and mental challenges that every recruit must complete.
On the surrounding “pier,” sets, props, lighting and scenery can be changed to simulate a new port or different time of day. The Trayer itself is docked in a moat of 90,000 gallons of water, made even more realistic by the scent of diesel and sea water and realistic sounds produced by hidden surround-sound speakers.
Inside the Trayer, recruits are graded on how they respond to various mock crises on ship: loading and unloading, security, firefighting, flooding, mass casualties, man overboard and ship maintenance. Recruits must demonstrate teamwork, problem-solving, communications and many other skills learned during their training.
Every night of the year, the Trayer can accommodate four divisions, each containing 88 recruits. A team of 67 facilitators and staff use wireless personal digital assistants to control the scenarios and communicate with behind-the-scenes crew members.
With the help of Hollywood set designers, experienced sailors and modern technology, recruits experience real fire and flooding onboard, the shaking and sounds to mimic a ship’s motion, “injured” dummies that moan through hidden MP3 players, changing air temperatures, hot objects and more. Further guaranteeing an authentic look and feel, various gauges, pipes and electrical parts were salvaged from decommissioned ships and installed in the Trayer.
Lessons learned from actual events onboard ships were integrated into the training scenarios. Recruits face circumstances similar to the sailors onboard actual naval vessels that were damaged by missiles, mines or fire. For a generation raised on video games, this dose of multimedia reality puts recruits right in the middle of the action – demanding that they prove worthy of the Navy ballcap they receive at the capping ceremony upon ending training for Battle Stations 21.
Source Of The Force
While the Trayer is the big news of the moment, it is merely another part of the long, storied history of training recruits at Naval Station Great Lakes. President Theodore Roosevelt signed the order to establish a facility at
During World War I, more than 100,000 trainees spent time at
After a brief closure from 1933-1935, the base reopened and rapidly expanded. The Seabees began there in 1942, during World War II, and the first African-American Naval officers were commissioned in 1944. By 1994,
In 2004, the separate commands of Navy Region Midwest and Naval Service Training Command were created, both headquartered at
Pioneering efforts to improve Navy medical facilities and programs are underway at
Generations of sailors have trained at
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Julie Dawson is a Navy spouse who writes for Military Money and other publications. She currently lives in
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Area: The base is located in Great Lakes, Ill., surrounded by the city of North Chicago (population 35,000, the majority of whom are military) on the shore of Lake Michigan.
Housing: Military housing at
Schools: Great Lakes does not offer DoD schools, so students may attend a local public school or one of the many private schools in the area. A variety of colleges, universities and trade schools are available at multiple locations within an hour’s drive.
Employment: The military is the largest local employer, with healthcare and other public administration work also ranking high. Great Lakes’ proximity to
Fun: The base provides the usual lineup of MWR activities: archery, an auto shop, bowling, a campground, recreation centers, golf, a library, a theater, plus a marina on the
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