The United States Navy is one of the most dynamic and diverse forces in the world. Within the Navy there exist hundreds of different jobs fulfilled by broadly skilled Sailors. But, no matter the job a Sailor is trained for, all hands are expected to know how to properly dress in a fire fighter’s ensemble (FFE) handle basic firefighting gear and work as a team to fight a fire, in a safe and effective manner on board the ship.

Because of the high threat that a fire may cause and the high likelihood of a fire occurring due to the nature of naval operations and the complex, industrial environment of Navy ships, the most effective way to train firefighting is by doing so in a live simulated environment. While it sounds oxymoronic, a live simulated environment is one in which the event (the fire in this example) is controlled by the trainers, so that the trainee interacts with an event that is as close to a real-world scenario as possible for maximum training value balanced with safety.

Sailors are introduced to a simulated shipboard environment as most firefighting facilities are multi-story concrete structures with a number of faux compartments (rooms) built inside designed to look like the facilities onboard a ship. There are tables chairs, beds, washers, dryers, fuel tanks and more, not unlike the ships the Sailors work on.

There are certain immaterial aspects of this type of learning that simply cannot be taught in a traditional classroom, or any other form of learning. One of the most important is trust. Trust that your fellow Sailors are doing their part to combat a fire inside a steel box, trusting your equipment to keep the 250-degree air from boiling your lungs, and trusting your training to handle equipment and extinguish the flames.

What is learned inside that concrete tower in simulated shipboard fires extends well beyond any text, video, learning game or other method of instruction which, in a life and death situation, is a vital step in training. Medical environments also capitalize on live simulations with hyper-realistic training dummies designed to mimic many symptoms and mannerisms of individuals requiring medical care (Weintraub, 2015). Because of the multimodal experience of interaction, and application of knowledge during live simulation events, it is one of the most effective (and costly) forms of training.

References

US Navy. (2010). Sailors assigned to the amphibious transport dock ship USS Denver (LPD 9) enter a space to combat a controlled fire at the Yokosuka Center for Naval Engineering Firefighting School. [Image]. Retrieved from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/US_Navy_100610-N-2218S004_Sailors_assigned_to_the_amphibious_transport_dock_ship_USS_Denver_%28LPD_9%29_enter_a_space_to_combat_a_controlled_fire_at_the_Yokosuka_Center_for_Naval_Engineering_Firefighting_School.jpg

Weintraub, K. (2015). Artificial Patients, Real Learning. The New York Times, p. D3. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/10/health/heart-surgery-simulation-medical-training.html