ENGINE - Royal Australian Navy

BY CPOET DAVID ROTTINGER
THE ELECTRONICS CONSOLIDATION
MODULE (ECM) AND THE ELECTRONIC
TECHNICIAN (ET) TRAINEE
A new course for IT Initial Technical Training (ITT) Trainees started in May
this year and its name is the Electronics Consolidation Module or ECM.
It is the last six weeks of technical training every IT sailor will do before
leaving CERBERUS to join establishments or ships. The first course
started Wed 06 May 09 and we have just welcomed the fourth course to
the Radar Building
For quite a while there have
been a lot of complaints about
the technical attributes (or lack
thereof) of the SMN Er's leaving
CERBERUS. The blame for this
apparent shortfall, right or wrong,
cannot be squarely laid upon
the trainee's shoulders and their
perceived inability to grasp certain
concepts.
With the ever changing curriculum
and continually evolving way it is
taught, training 'needs' at SMN star
level have been identified. These
'needs' exists largely due to the
following reasons:
1) Civilian recognition for our Navy
training involved completing
core competencies that cannot
be achieved at sea , and;
2) The training being delivered
was not 'real' world enough
for the trainee to assimilate
well into a real ship or real life
situation.
Arguably, SMN joining ships lacked
the minimal technical knowledge
and basic Naval 'awareness'
required of a sailor at sea .
These SMN lacked confidence,
competence and genera l
knowledge of a ship and its daily
roles or functions e.g. Electronic
Casua lty Control (ECC), Standing
Sea Fire Party (SSFP), Watch and
Station (W&S) Bill. This has been
the general theme of the feedback
given by sailors sent on courses to
the Radar Building from ships and
establishments.
It was to this end that I was
approached and asked to develop
a course that would address most,
if not all of these issues. Through
a good deal of consultation with
personnel in the Radar Building
at CERBERUS, particularly CIO Mr
Dennis Wilson, a plan of attack
was ratified and a starting point
established.
The ECM, as its name suggests,
provides consolidation to
underlying skills that Er sailors
have gained through lIT and NIDA
train ing.
In the past lIT and NIDA trained
sailors, after having spent months
training on 12 V dc circuit
cards, were expected to join a
technologica lly expanding Navy
armed with some very basic tools.
As much of the feedback had
pointed out, this wasn't even
enough to allow the trainee to
conduct some basic level fault
finding. Confidence levels and
the lack of equipment knowledge
being major attributing factors.
The lack of training on 'real' world
equipment could be seen as a
catalyst to a lack of fault finding
confidence. To boost confidence
levels and hopefully competency
levels, increase awareness of
ship routines and improve the
'worthiness' of our very junior
sailors, the ECM was developed
with five main elements:
1) ECM1 - AN/WSC-3 UHF
Transceiver;
2) ECM2 - CRH-ll HF Receiver;
3) ECM3 - AN/SPS-55 Radar
Distribution System;
4) ECM4 - SRBOC, and,
5) ECM5 - Electronic Technician
Professional Advancement
(ErPA)
The pieces of equipment utilised
on the ECM were chosen for a
couple of reasons; Firstly, they
are used in existing equipment
courses and staff already possess
the necessary knowledge and
skills for effective course delivery,
and secondly, the trainee would
receive a good cross section of
train ing from equipment specific
to the three Er streams.
The ECM is quite intensive right
from the beginning as the trainees
will be seeing and doing things
they may not have seen or done
before. From the time they join the
Radar Building to the time they
leave, the trainee will be on the go.
On the first morn ing the tra inees
are welcomed to the Radar
Building and given the necessary
induction and safety briefs, joining
questionnaire, Leading Hand
Of the Mess (LHOM) brief, kit
issue (anti-flash , fie ld dressings,
and torch), duty and security
briefings and general mess-deck
information. This is just to get them
started.
On the second day, trainees cover
topics such as transmission lines,
aeria ls, propagation, decibels,
superheterodyne principles
and radar principles. All of this
information would have been