USCG Training Center Hosts Annual Drill Instructor Summit

CAPE MAY – In an effort to open lines of communication between the enlisted training entities of all five military branches, Coast Guard Training Center Cape May hosted the Annual Drill Instructor Summit, which began April 23 and concluded April 27.
The summit is designed to facilitate dialogue between the services, aid in the exchange of ideas, discuss societal trends affecting basic military training, and identify best practices which serve to benefit enlisted training across the services.
“This week we were honored to host the Fourth Annual Drill Instructor Summit,” stated Capt. Own Gibbons, commanding officer of Training Center Cape May, in a release. “This group is assembled annually because the military understands the need for joint force collaboration across an ever-emerging worldwide theatre of operations.”
The summit focuses on five areas so that each branch can learn from the other’s methods.
The five areas are:
* Recruit Training – to examine trends in professionalism, esprit de corps, retention and training.
* Instructor Misconduct Processes – to compare and contrast how misconduct is handled.
* Gender Integration – to review how services integrate training of male and female recruits.
* Manning and Staffing – to define how instructors are selected, trained and retained.
* Ceremonies – to understand culminating ceremonies of each branch of service.
“Our mission here at Training Center Cape May is to develop smartly disciplined, physically fit, basically trained men and women ready to meet the demands of an ever-changing Coast Guard. I am certain that this body of talent will all return to their Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Army posts with more tools that will enable them to better groom the next generation of airmen, sailors, marines, and soliders,” stated Gibbons.
A variety of service mission briefs included an outline of the basic training environment, command structure, jargon, training locations, unit composition, instructor assignments, generalized training focus, and follow-on training.
“Hosting all the services is a great opportunity to make honest self-assessments of our recruit training programs,” stated Cmdr. Richard Scott, training officer of Training Center Cape May. “By collaborating with some of the most talented leaders from across the Armed Forces, this forum presents a rich opportunity to share our own best practices, while also learning of ways to mimic established successes from sister services.”