Naval Station Everett (NSE) held two ribbon cutting ceremonies onboard March 2 to celebrate the reopening of the small arms range and the opening of a new security training center for the auxiliary security forces (ASF).

The small arms range went through a few upgrades to make it more state-of-the-art and increase safety features.

“Job well done on identifying a problem that needed to be fixed, making sure that we install a capability that was top of the line, and having the vision to make sure that everything we have done is compatible with a base plan,” said Capt. Michael Coury, Commanding Officer, Naval Station Everett.

Before this was completed, Sailors had to travel to Whidbey Island or Kitsap peninsula for their training. Having the range on base is especially important since so much of the required training for Sailors is in San Diego. Everything the bases in Navy Region Northwest can offer greatly increases local fleet readiness.

“The better we get at providing training, the more efficient we are, is that much more critical to getting our readiness up to par as much as possible so our Sailors who are going to the pointy end of the spear can do so with the greatest local capabilities,” said Coury.

Immediately after the ribbon cutting and demonstration at the firing range, the crowd made its way across the street to the newest security training facility.

The facility includes everything the ASF trainees need throughout the entire course.

“We’re in a unique situation here,” said Gary Goodenbour, ASF instructor. “We used to have to always go to the reserve center for our classes, then we had to go to the drill hall, then we’d go over to another building to do more training over there. Well this has all those.”

The biggest addition to this training facility was the Professional Range Instruction Simulator (PRISim). The PRISim is a very advanced shooting judgment simulator. The simulator takes students through different instructional scenarios with the use of more realistic mock weapons. Instructors can monitor everything the students do and can even implement changes as the scenario plays out.

NSE made these necessary changes and additions to increase training capabilities and eventually the readiness of Sailors.

“Readiness is everything in today’s Navy,” said Coury. “Readiness is both the equipment you receive and the training that you receive. Today’s Navy has a higher op-tempo and has less equipment and less people to meet even a greater demand.”