Does a gas turbine tech do any type of "hands on training" at a land based mockup of a gas turbine before they are shipped out to the fleet? I doubt it.
In my opinion, the NPTUs can be done away with.
My son graduated from the GC NPTU in the last few months.
There are certainly issues with keeping even one of the
60 50 year old MTS up and available for training.
He qaulified several weeks before graduation and volunteered each day to work with members on his crew who had not yet qualified ( on days when finding make work for him to do was a challenge - which was every day he did not have watch ).
Apparently the standards were relaxed in the last week or two so that virtually everyone who had not given up previously was able to qualify.
Failure and self removal were apparently the same thing. Those who wanted out went to medical and reported depression or some other disqualifying condition.
However, IMHO, the above are all things that a competent organization can fix by policy changes, training and/or training facility investments.
I was able to observe my son first hand multiple times through out the Nuke pipeline. He came home for emergency leave for a terminal illness in A school, T-Track Leave, Christmas holiday in Power School, Pre-Fill Leave, emergency leave for a funeral during the first few months of Prototype, and a 30 day leave before reporting to his boat. ( The member of the Greatest Generation who was supposed to die a few weeks after A School started, instead lived a relatively healthy life for another year and half ).
The difference in this Sailor between the Pre-Fill leave, and the 30 day leave after prototype graduation was dramatic. The self driven check out process without hand holding, the requirement for this unmarried sailor to live outside the barracks, take care of himself, and qualify with feedback which was often non-existent except when it was negative, and the ability to interact with veteran Nukes and pick and choose from conflicting career advice, made him decisive and unflappable.
In this one case at least, the Sailor who recently reported to his boat while underway, somewhere in the Pacific, was much different than he would have been had he gone straight from the Military Technical Training School environment of NNPTC to his boat.
Just one father's opininion. A father who went from his own technical training school directly to his first command
thirty forty years ago without anywhere near that amount of seasoning or maturity. Take it for what it is worth.
