Watch these three very excellent videos about the training one has to go through to become a Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewman (SWCC) in the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) community.

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SWCC: Making an Operator, All Hands Magazine, July 4, 2023, YouTube

Episode 1, 16 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvVyDhGuSTw

Episode 2, 24 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d399gVkbU5c

Episode 3, 16 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q470w6HMoGQ

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Image by Austin Rooney, Defense Media Activity, July 5, 2023.

The first woman to become a Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC) graduated from the Naval Special Warfare training pipeline on Thursday, July 15, 2021. She was among 17 graduates of the Crewman Qualification Training (CQT) class earning their pins.

“Becoming the first woman to graduate from a Naval Special Warfare training pipeline is an extraordinary accomplishment, and we are incredibly proud of our teammate. Like her fellow operators, she demonstrated the character, cognitive and leadership attributes required to join our force.”

Rear Adm. H. W. Howard, commander, U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command

The Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen specialize in small boats used in maritime operations, insertion and exfiltration of SEAL and other special operations elements, Visit Board Search Seizure (VBSS), and in the conduct of coastal patrol and interdiction. SWCCs provide dedicated rapid mobility in shallow water areas where larger ships cannot operate. The Special Boat Teams have the unique capability of delivering combat craft via parachute drop utilizing the Maritime Combatant Craft Aerial Delivery System.

Photo: CORONADO, Calif. (May 14, 2020) A member of Crewman Qualification Training Class 109 receives a Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewman (SWCC) Basic pin during a graduation ceremony at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, May 14, 2020. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Anthony W. Walker/Released) 200514-N-QC706-0117

The ‘official’ Naval Special Warfare website on SEAL / SWCC training details the rigorous and demanding 37-week long training that SWCCs undergo to become qualified. The website states that there are five stages for a SWCC candidate.

• Stage 1 (2 months) takes place at the Naval Special Warfare Preparatory School in Great Lakes, Illinois where the candidates improve their physical fitness and learn the basic concepts of special warfare.
• Stage 2 (three weeks) is the Naval Special Warfare Orientation course where there is a lot of physical fitness and water training.
• Stage 3 (7 weeks) is the Basic Crewman Selection course (BCS) where the physical fitness training and conditioning continues. More running and swimming with lots of time spent in the pool or ocean. The last part of the BCS is called “The Tour” – a grueling days long crucible period requiring mental fortitude and physical stamina.
• Stage 4 (7 weeks) is the Basic Crewman Training where the candidates learn special operations maritime skills, navigation, communications, combat medicine, and small boat seamanship.
• Stage 5 (7 weeks) is the Crewman Qualification Training. The mental and physical toughness of the SWCC candidates is tested while they learn advanced navigation, weapons, mission planning, and small boat operations. After competing this phase the candidates attend NSW survival, SERE, and cross-cultural training.

The graduation rate for the SWCC assessment and selection pipeline is about 35%. In 2016 the Navy’s special warfare duty positions were opened to female sailors. 18 women have attempted the SEAL or SWCC training, but thus far, only one has successfully completed the training. The new SWCCs will either go on to some specialized training (for instance, the Special Operations Combat Medic course) or report to a Special Boat Team.

Photo: Naval special operations forces from the Greek Underwater Demolition Team (DYK), Cypriot Underwater Demolition Team (UDT), and U.S. Navy Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen (SWCC) conduct Visit Board Search and Seizure (VBSS) in Souda Bay, Greece, during a trilateral exercise, January 11-29. (Photo by Sgt. Monique ONeill, SOCEUR, Jan 24, 2021)

Once qualified SWCCs continue to train in their core competencies as well as in advanced skills. They are experts in maritime operations, navigation, communications, engineering, parachuting, and other special operations tactics and techniques. The principle boats that they will operate include the Combat Craft Assault (CCA), Combat Craft Medium (CCM), Combat Craft Heavy (CCH), , and the Special Operations Craft Riverine (SOC-R).

Photo: Two combatant craft assault crafts (CCA) assigned to the Special Boat Team 20 perform a high-speed transit in the Mediterranean Sea, May 26, 2021. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric Coffer, May 26, 2021)

The Navy has three Special Boat Teams with 800 sailors. The Special Boat Teams are located in Coronado, California (SBT 12), Little Creek, Virginia (SBT 20), and Stennis, Mississippi (SBT 22). The SBTs are continually deploying to overseas locations in support of naval special operations exercises, training, and missions.

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Top Photo: A Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman (SWCC) candidate from Basic Crewman Selection (BCS) Class 111 prepares for an evolution during “The Tour” at Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Center in Coronado, Calif., June 1, 2020. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Sean Furey)

NAVSCIATTS – The Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School is located at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The command is a center for training international military and law enforcement personnel. NAVSCIATTS is a Security Cooperation / Security Force Assistance schoolhouse operating under the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) in support of Geographic Combatant Commander’s Theater Special Operations Command (TSOC) priorities.

History. The school used to be located in the Panama Canal Zone. It was first established as the Small Craft Inspection and Training Team (SCIATT) at the U.S. Naval Station, Rodman, Panama in 1963 by the U.S. Coast Guard. Operation of the school was transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1969 and redesignated as the Small Craft Instruction and Technical Team. With the closure of U.S. bases in Panama the school was relocated to Mississippi.

Mission. “NAVSCIATTS conducts Foreign Internal Defense (FID) in support of Combatant Commanders in accordance with Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command priorities using Mobile Training Teams (MTTs) and in-residence training to prepare Partner Nations forces to conduct small craft operations in riverine or littoral environments”. [1]

Training Programs. Over the past two years (2016 and 2017) the school has trained up over 2,000 international military and law enforcement agency personnel from approximately 80 partner nations. The instruction takes place in the form of residence courses and mobile training teams across the tactical, operational, and strategic spectrums. Topics include waterborne operations, maintenance, instructor development and other subjects. [2]

“The facility trains and educates international special operations forces, SOF-like forces and SOF enablers across the tactical, operational and strategic spectrums through in resident and mobile training team courses of instruction, including operations, repairs, sustainment of craft, communications, weapons, small unit tactics, range safety, unmanned aerial systems and intel fusion operations.” [3]

NAVSCIATTS Courses. There are a multitude of courses taught at the training facility. The courses can be custom-tailored to the training audience. The courses are divided into three categories:

• Strategic courses
• Operational courses
• Tactical courses

Below is a listing of the courses conducted [4]

• Strategic
  • Strategic Leaders International Course
  • Partner Nation Instructor Course
• Operational
  • Diesel Systems Overhaul and Maintenance
  • Outboard Motor Maintenance and Overhaul
  • Technical Welding and Applied Repairs
  • Instructor Development Course
  • UAS Operations and Planning
  • Rule of Law and Disciplined Military Operations
  • Intel Fusion and Operations Integration
  • Expeditionary Logistics and Supply
  • JO/NCO Leadership and Planning
• Tactical
  • Patrol Craft Officer – Coastal
  • Patrol Craft Officer – Riverine
  • Waterborne Instructor Course Coastal
  • Waterborne Instructor Course Riverine
  • Patrol Craft Advanced Training
  • Combat Lifesaver Course
  • International Small Arms Maintenance
  • International Tactical Communications Course
  • Range Operations Safety
  • SOF Tactical Patrol Leader

Instructor Cadre. There are less than 100 instructors at the school. The commandant for the past few years has been a Navy SEAL. The cadre conducts both in-resident training as well as take part in Mobile Training Teams to foreign countries. Training offered by the cadre is often followed up with advanced training by Special Boat Team or SEAL Team instructors.

Boats. The school provides training utilizing 25-foot Boston Whaler Patrol Boats, 25-foot Security Force Assistance Combat Craft, and 38-foot Security Force Assistance Combat Craft.

International Training Audience. The school provides instruction for partner nation personnel from all over the world. One example is the school’s Lake Chad Basin Initiative – which is working through the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership to facilitate this training event. The objective of the training is to increase partner nations’ abilities to project force against violent extremist organization safe havens within the Lake Chad region. The students will be armed with U.S.-based maintenance and leadership training prior to the delivery of mission-essential equipment to security forces in the region. Follow-on training by mobile training teams will reinforce and further the capabilities gained from the training at the CONUS based schoolhouse. [5}

Training Location. The location of the the training facility is ideal – this part of Mississippi possesses some of the finest riverine and littoral training areas found within the United States. The facility is located on the Mississippi coast 45 miles (72 kilometers) northeast of New Orleans, Mississippi. Two other Naval Special Warfare commands are located on Stennis – Special Boat Team 22 and Training Detachment Stennis.

References:

NAVSCIATTS Website on USSOCOM Portal
www.socom.mil/navsoc/NAVSCIATTS/

NAVSCIATTS Facebook
www.facebook.com/NAVSCIATTS/

NAVSCIATTS YouTube
www.youtube.com/NAVSCIATTS

Footnotes:

[1] Mission statement from NAVSCIATTS, accessed Dec 2017.
www.socom.mil/navsoc/NAVSCIATTS/mission-statement

[2] USSOCOM, Tip of the Spear, United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), October 2017, 19.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Listing of courses offered from NAVSCIATTS website as of December 2017.

[5] See “NAVSCIATTS Conducts Inaugural Lake Chad Basin Initiative”, by Angela Fry, DVIDS, December 7, 2017.

Ocean Shield is now shut down. For a number of years the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) stepped up its maritime capability by running a naval task force some distance from the European continent. Piracy was a huge problem for many years – especially off the coast of Somali where pirates would attack defenseless ships at will. The pirates would take hostages and seize large cargo ships holding the crew and ships for ransom. After a while the maritime nations of the world took notice and actually did something about the piracy problem. NATO provided a naval task force that assisted in the protection of the sea lanes of the Western Indian Ocean.

NATO’s counter piracy mission helped to deter and disrupt pirate attacks while protecting vessels and increasing the level of security in the region since 2008. The area of operation – depicted by the map above – was far encompassing – and entailed much more than the coast of Somalia. However, it is off the coast of Somalia where most of the piracy threat existed. The area was over 2 million square miles of ocean – about the size of Europe.

Ocean Shield, in conjunction with other counter-piracy efforts is seen as a big success. There have been no successful piracy attacks in the area since May 2012. Pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia declined from 236 in 2011 to two reportedly unsuccessful attacks in 2014.

NATO’s maritime forces will now focus on Russia naval activities in the Black Sea and along the coast of the Scandinavian and Baltic nations. In addition, the maritime duties of NATO vessels will see an increase due to the problems associated with illegal migrating from the Middle East and North Africa.

Read more:

“Ocean Shield Achieved its Mission”, The Maritime Executive, January 2, 2017.

Operation OCEAN SHIELD, NATO.
www.mc.nato.int/missions/operation-ocean-shield.aspx

NATO Shipping Centre, NATO
www.shipping.nato.int/operations/OS/Pages/OOSdefault.aspx

Operation  OCEAN SHIELD, by WikipediA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ocean_Shield

Facebook: NATO Counter-Piracy Mission – Operation Ocean Shield
www.facebook.com/OperationOceanShield/

National Security and Defense News – JSTARS, Syria, Iran, Iraq, fixing the Navy, fighting terrorism, counterinsurgency, state-building, foreign policy, and more.

JSTARS Over the Middle East. One reporter, Eric Schmitt, recently spent some time with the Air Force visiting a flying unit with the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target attack Radar System (JSTARS). Read “Aboard a U.S. Eye in the Sky, Staring Down ISIS in Iraq and Syria“, The New York Times, December 25, 2016.

Trump and Syria – What to do?. One can only wonder where U.S. policy will lead us in the Syrian conflict. While we are currently working with some rebel Syrian groups and the Kurdish YPG – that level of support may grow or diminish. Some want us to walk away from Syria saying the resistance to the Assad regime is too fragmented. Others (Turkey included) would like us to abandon the Kurds. Many worry about an escalation of the conflict with the Russians. What should be done? Frederic C. Hof provides some advice to the President-Elect in “Advising Trump on Syria”, The Atlantic Council, January 3, 2017.

Fighting Terrorism with the next President. Daniel Byman says that terrorism is here to stay and that it has evolved and “. . . counterterrorism must change to keep pace . . . ” requiring the U.S. to “reorient its counterrorism focus.” He goes on to say that “. . . the most effective counterterrorism effort could be fostering better governance in troubled parts of the Middle East.” In his extensive essay he describes the current and future terrorist threat and provides recommendations in “How to Fight Terrorism in the Donald Trump Era”, The National Interest, December 25, 2016.

Incoming Presidents and U.S. Foreign Policy. The concept of ‘nation building’ is a negative topic for newly-elected presidents but many fall victim to “America’s civil religion” of overseas engagement. Read “A History of U.S. Foreign Affairs in Which Grandiose Ambitions Trump Realism”, The New York Times, December 27, 2016.

Fixing the Navy. For one thing – getting rid of the ‘blueberries’ is a step forward. Beyond that the Navy needs to reverse some of the disastrous decisions of Secretary Mabus. Read more in “To Fix the Department of the Navy – Kill the Mabus Legacy”, Small Wars Journal, January 2, 2017.

Iran Expansion of Naval Power. It appears that Iran is seeking to expand its reach by way of the oceans. It is planning on building naval bases in Yemen (a fierce fight going on between Saudi and Iranian proxy forces in that country) and Syria (yet another proxy fight). Read more in “Iran’s Growing Naval Ambitions”, Foreign Affairs, January 1, 2017.

Too Much COIN? Not Enough? The U.S. military has spent the last decade and a half fighting counterinsurgencies – principally in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some senior military leaders worry that we became to “COIN Centric” and ignored conventional warfighting skills. Others say we need to keep COIN as a central function of the military because that is the most likely type of conflict we will face in the immediate future. Read a 98-page report on the topic in “The COIN Conundrum: The Future of Counterinsurgency and U.S. Land Power”, Strategic Studies Institute, December 14, 2016.

Statebuilding – Lessons Learned. In February 2010 the U.S. announced with great fanfare that it would re-take (along with Afghan forces) the district of Marjah in Helmand province. Once the Taliban were cleared the Afghan’s would move a “Government-In-A-Box” into the district to re-establish governance, police, development, services, and security. It didn’t work out so well. Read more in “A Better Approach to Statebuilding”, Foreign Affairs, January 2, 2017.

Females and Marine Boot Camp. The Marines will soon have females in combat arms military occupational specialties. Read more in “The First Female Infantry Marines Will Graduate Boot Camp This Month”, Task & Purpose, January 2, 2017.

Pearl Harbor Day is observed every year on December 7th. The Japanese conducted a surprise attack against the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on this day in 1941. Numerous U.S. Navy ships were sunk and 2,403 military members and U.S. citizens were killed.