Improving training, one visit at a time

By Master Sgt. Dean Welch, Office of the Chief of Public Affairs-NortheastJune 30, 2015

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1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Army drill sergeant leaders, Sgts. 1st Class Melanie Coronado, foreground, and Amanda Calle, background, look at a FDNY physical training program at the Fire Department of New York Probationary Firefighter's School on Randall's Island, New York. The ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
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2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Army drill sergeant leaders, Sgts. 1st Class Melanie Coronado, left, and Amanda Calle, center, observe training at the Fire Department of New York Probationary Firefighter's School on Randall's Island, New York. The two drill sergeant leaders recentl... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

NEW YORK (March 20, 2015) -- Since the days of Baron von Steuben at Valley Forge, the U.S. Army has trained recruits, molding civilians into Soldiers to fight its nation's wars. And since 1975, the Fire Department of New York has taken recruits and made them into firefighters at its Probationary Firefighter's School on Randall's Island.

The FDNY bases its training cadre on the Army drill sergeant program, mirroring it as closely as possible, but what the fire department never did was ask for feedback on how it was doing.

That is until now, when two drill sergeant leaders from the U.S. Army Drill Sergeant School at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, arrived to observe and offer feedback on how it trains recruits.

"We have never taken the actual steps to ask the military, 'hey, what do you think of what we are doing, how close did we come?'" said Lt. J.P. Augier, executive officer to the FDNY chief of training. "If the U.S. Army says okay, we can say the U.S. Army checked the box here and thinks what we are doing is the best practice."

Drill sergeant leaders, Sgts. 1st Class Amanda Calle and Melanie Coronado recently spent three weeks of the 18 week-long course observing and interacting with the FDNY drill instructors, the fire instructors and the 300-plus probationary firefighters, commonly called "probies." The FDNY hopes that by opening its doors to the Army, it will bring with it ways to improve performance and decrease injuries in its recruit population.

During their visit the drill sergeant leaders did not have a structured role or benchmarks they needed to meet each day. Instead, they reported each morning for first formation, tagged along to classrooms for instruction, conducted physical training and met with academy leadership. It did not take long for them to find their footing.

"As soon as we figured out how they (FDNY) operate, what our left and right limits are, it was easy for us to adapt and understand how they operate," Coronado said, who has been in the Army 11 years.

"They adapted to our culture and the way things operate very quickly," added Augier.

The program, which includes a reciprocal visit by FDNY cadre to the Drill Sergeant School in the coming months, came through discussions between senior Army leaders and their counterparts in the FDNY, Lt. Col. Rich Stebbins, public affairs officer at Army Center for Initial Military Training, wrote in an email.

Augier, who is a third generation firefighter, said this collaboration, which came about "inside of two months," is a first for the 150 year-old department.

"We've opened our doors in the past, but never like this."

Coronado said the two organizations, and their training atmospheres, are similar but likened the academy to advanced individual training from a drill sergeant perspective. She said the four FDNY drill instructors who, according to the FDNY website are responsible for the probies' daily routines, move them to their classes, either in a room or at one of the many simulators on the 27-acres of academy grounds, where 38 instructors provide instruction on the tasks being taught. The DIs remain on site reinforcing discipline, providing motivation and reminding the students of the importance of the training.

Coronado, a South Miami, Florida, native, added that the two use the same training strategies.

"The crawl, walk, run method is the same. Repetition, same."

She mentioned the training support packages Army instructors use to ensure all training is conducted the same, no matter who is teaching. Augier said the FDNY plans to adopt something similar.

Coronado also said the FDNY is up against the clock when training recruits whereas Army drill sergeants aren't.

"They (FDNY recruits) are on a time clock on how many hours they work in a day," she said. "We can keep our Soldiers and work with them because they have nowhere else to go, these recruits go home."

She added that if an Army recruit is not making the grade then there is always the option of recycling the recruit to the next class; however, the fire department doesn't have that option. So Coronado has discussed with her FDNY drill instructors how she sometimes uses a writing assignment to affect change and reinforce positive behavior.

But Coronado, who along with Calle, has donned fire protective equipment and breathing apparatus during some of the training sessions, said she thinks the Army would do well to create better simulators like the FDNY.

"Their simulators are very, very realistic and they put a lot of money into that," the Iraq and Afghanistan veteran said. "The facilities, training wise, are really, really legit."

Both Coronado and Augier agree that this partnership is in the early stages and any recommendations of change that come from this visit will not be instituted automatically.

"This is phase I of the process, the next phase is coming through when they come down to us (Fort Jackson)," Coronado said, who along with Calle has conducted ride-a-longs with fire crews to active fire scenes.

"Nothing turns on a dime, but the current administration (of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio) is very open-minded to change, not for the sake of change, but change for the sake of becoming a more highly reliable organization."

In other words, reliability that comes when drill sergeants and instructors from the Army and FDNY visit, observe, share and implement ways to better train the next generation of Soldiers and firefighters.