Battle stations training gets reality check. (People Planes Places).

With the help of technology, simulation and some of the entertainment industry's top creative minds, the Recruit Training Command is poised to make a quantum leap in the evolution of "Battle Stations" training.

First assembled in an empty warehouse in 1997 with plywood, makeshift plumbing and old-fashioned Sailor ingenuity, Battle Stations has evolved considerably from its beginnings. Nearing its fifth anniversary, the 12-hour exercise pushes recruits to their limits, requiring them to draw on every aspect of their training to date. Now, with the help of experts in the entertainment industry, the Navy is working to make Battle Stations even more unforgettable.

"Our objective is to make Battle Stations a more effective training evolution," said RAdm. Ann Rondeau, Commander Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Ill. "If we achieve that goal, we send a better trained Sailor to the fleet, and that's what Great Lakes is all about."

With that guidance, the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division in Orlando, Fla., and i.d.e.a.s. at Disney-MGM Studios began work on the first phase of the project, creative development of a Battle Stations story line.

"Our tasking was to create the Battle Stations experience in the form of a story, incorporating the scenarios which are taught today," said Bob Allen, i.d.e.a.s. chief executive officer. "We are professional storytellers, and our aim is to have recruits so immersed in the Battle Stations story that it becomes real. Reality leads to what we call 'experiential learning,' a very effective technique."

Under the i.d.e.a.s. concept, recruits are marched to a pier, where they are dwarfed by a ship's mast protruding through the roof of the Battle Stations facility. Bird calls, tug boat whistles and other ambient noises of a busy port echo from speakers nearby.

Once aboard the Battle Stations ship, recruits go below to the mess decks to receive briefings on the night's mission. The scenarios then begin to unfold in a continuous sequence along the story line. Routine operations come first. Gear is stowed, stores are loaded, then the order is passed to execute an emergency sortie-20 minutes to get the ship underway. Aggression scenarios follow. General quarters is sounded. Recruits battle shipboard fires, repel terrorist boarders, move ammunition from a flooding magazine, and rescue injured shipmates from smoke-filled compartments.

It is the increase in realism that sets the new Battle Stations apart from the old. In the abandon-ship scenario, for example, wave machines, salt water and night lighting will make the jump from the ship far more uninviting than the combat pool used today. "We have to maintain a suspension of disbelief throughout the entire 12-hour evolution," said Allen. "It's imperative that we keep the stress level up as well."

"The new Battle Stations must be 'refreshable,'" added Rondeau. "We have a predictable customer in the fleet, but not a predictive one. Ten years ago, antiterrorism force protection was not as significant a part of our training curriculum as it is today. We need to anticipate what our training priorities will be 10 years from now, and build in the flexibility to adapt to them."

"We will evaluate our Battle Stations return on investment, as we do the effectiveness of all of our training programs, based on feedback from the fleet," stated Capt. 0. W. Wright, Recruit Training Command skipper. "When a Sailor uses what he or she learned in boot camp to respond successfully to a crisis in the fleet, there is no better validation of our training."