| Fred's Place Special Tribute Page For The Training Center Yorktown QMA School
Staff, Instructors And Especially Class 04-02
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Prior to the fall of 1985, Coast Guard Quartermasters were trained at the
Navy's school in Orlando, Florida. QM "A" School became a reality for the
Coast Guard on 01 Sep 1985. Just two days later, the first ever Coast Guard
QM "A" class convened. It consisted of 19 people and was 12 weeks long.
The students were afforded the opportunity to perform practical exercises on
the CG Barque Eagle. Eventually, the CGC Morro Bay became the official
training platform of QM "A" School. Since the turn of the millenium,
training methods have gone from very basic but effective to power point
presentations with newer graphics. These training aids have enable the
school to be shortened to 10 weeks. On June 7th, 2002, Quartermaster "A"
School will be disestablished. The spirit of what is a Quartermaster,
however, will never be forgotten.
The Week Before Class 04-02 Convenes
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SNQM Eric Giles, QM3 Brandon Gourley, and SNQM Danny Rose, dayworkers for the QM "A" staff, prepare the classroom for the final QM "A" class, class 04-02.
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QM3 Gourley, SNQM Giles, and SNQM Rose clear out a new classroom. The final QM "A" class is so large, more room had to be created for them.
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Week One
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SN Christian Menendez, PO Branguron Glasgow, SN Amy Park, PO Osbourne Johnson, and PO John-Baptiste Matmuren observe signaling training. Glasgow and Johnson are international students from St. Vincent, and Matmuren is from St. Lucia.
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SN Kim Hartman and SK3 Jeremy Baxter man the flashing light for signaling drills. |
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FN Michael Devenpeck shows his semaphore acumen.
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The final QM "A" class was so large that a mini-auditorium had to be used for efficient training.
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SN April Boyde, FN Michael Devenpeck, and SN Amanda Lokey look on during the class party.
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Week Two
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SN John Keane works late into the evening. The QM "A" course is very challenging and requires many hours of study.
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QM2 Richard Osburn, QM "A"'s newest instructor, instructs the class on Latitude and Longitude. |
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QM2 Richard Osburn instructs SN John Lobherr on Tracen's mail handling procedures.
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SN Christian Menendez shines his shoes in anticipation for an inspection. Military bearing is a very important aspect of QM "A" school. |
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SN Eric Nelson and SN April Boyde send a semaphore message during a signal field exercise.
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Week Three
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SN Philip Heem and SN Michael Bolinger study Navigation Rules.
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SN Alex Buchanan studies during a break.
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SN Amanda Lokey and SN Amy Park review their completed semaphore message.
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Week Four
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QM1 John Ryan and QM2 Richard Osburn conduct room inspections.
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QM2 Richard Osburn puts his own "special touches" on a discrepant room. "A" School students are required to keep their rooms in immaculate condition.
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SN Kim Hartman double-checks her work.
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SN Joshua Burlingame sorts through his Chart Labeling materials as SN Amanda Lokey looks on.
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PO Jean-Baptiste Mathurin, an international student from St. Lucia, leafs through a publication. The future Quartermasters at Yorktown are required to be intimately familiar with nautical publications.
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SN Tyler Benson flashes a "Tango".
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Week Five
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Class 04-02 takes in a Navigation Rules lecture. The NavRules test is one of the most difficult in the Coast Guard.
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SN Michael Bolinger and SGT Hamilton from Malta pay close attention during one of the many NavRules lectures.
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SN Michael Bolinger, SN Kim Hartman, and SN Joshua Burlingame all received perfect scores on the NavRules exam.
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Week Six
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SN Chris LaClair, SN John Lobherr, SN John Keane, and SN Eric Nelson "turn to" on evening cleanups. Thursday night field days are a tradition at QM "A" School.
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SN Nicholas Sawyer studies his Visual Radar homework with renewed intensity.
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SN Geralyn Mobley reviews publications before an evaluation.
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SN Eric Medellin studies in his room as the evening approaches.
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Week Seven
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QM1 John Ryan meets with QM "A" class officers SN Nicholas Sawyer, SN Mischa Winters, SN John Lobherr, and SN Kim Hartman.
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SN Tim Wellen celebrates as SN Alex Buchanan tells him his flashing light score. QM "A" students are required to show proficiency in reading Morse Code on a light.
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SN Mischa Winters points out the Washington Auditorium to SN Michael Haldeman. The Washington Auditorium is great for post-training day entertainment such as movies.
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QM3 Collin Bronson counsels SN Patrick Murphy on Maneuvering Boards
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Week Eight
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SN Jack Yontz works diligently on his homework. Week 8, or "CelNav" week, presents the challenge of learning about sunrise, sunset, local apparent noon, azimuth, and amplitude.
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SN Geralyn Mobley works on an azimuth of the sun.
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SN John Lobherr works out sunrise information.
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SN April Boyde crams for an amplitude eval.
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Week Nine
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Week 9 marks the beginning of the Comprehensive Navigation Plot, a detailed exercise in which students simulate QMOW situations. SN Geralyn Mobley documents events on logs during said exercise.
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SN John Keane wraps up his Complot.
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SN Amanda Lokey contemplates data from the exercise.
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After the rigorous Complot, QM "A" students received a much-needed break at Busch Gardens. SN Patrick Murphy and SN Erik Nelson pose outside the famed recreational park.
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SN Kim Hartman, QM1 Jimmy Belcher, and SN John Lobherr wait in line for the infamous "Loch Ness Monster".
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Members of the QM "A" class "mind their helm" at a Busch Gardens attraction.
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Week Ten & Graduation
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SN Philip Heem reviews charts in preparation for a Navigation Brief.
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SN Matthew Haldeman, SN Jack Yontz, SN Philip Heem, SN April Boyde, and SN Patrick Murphy put their heads together during the Navigation Plot exercise.
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PO Jean-Baptiste Matmurin, SN Joshua Burlingame, SN Mischa Winters, SN Tyler Benson, and FN Devenpeck work on their NavPlot.
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SN Charles Keyes analyzes data for navigational exercises.
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SN Alex Buchanan, SN Kimberly Hartman, SN Amy Park, SN Geralyn Mobley, and SN Eric Nelson standby for exercises in the radar lab.
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SN April Boyde and SN Patrick Murphy engage in more navigational exercises in the Ft. Eustis simulator.
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SN Jack Yontz demonstrates his soon to be legendary precision.
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SN Alex Buchanan demonstrates two awards he won while at Tracen Yorktown.
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SN Charles Keyes, SN Amanda Lokey, SN John Lobherr, and PO Branguron Glasgow engage in navigational exercises.
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QMCM Tom Hall, the seniormost Quartermaster in the USCG, speaks to the graduating class.
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SN Chris LaClair accepts an award for academic excellence. Other winners of this award were SN Joshua Burlingame and SN Mischa Winters.
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Numerous guests assist in pinning crows on the new 3rd class petty officers.
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SN Kim Hartman accepts her graduation certificate. SN Hartman was the class master at arms.
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QMCS Jeff Roberts, the Quartermaster School Chief, presents a decommissioning plaque to Tracen Yorktown Executive Officer CDR Norris Merkle.
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Personal note from Fred:
It has been both a pleasure and a priviledge to work with QMC Chris Browning to bring this moment of Coast Guard History
to the pages of Fred's Place. I personnaly congratulate each new Coast Guard Quartermaster and wish them well in their careers.
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