July 2020
In The Spotlight
Summer Edition
Why I Became a Mine Warfare Warfare Tactics Instructor (WTI) By Lt. Roxanne Sumanga, MIW WTI Slating—it serves as a friendly reminder that your current tour is wrapping up. When it was time for post-DIVO shore tour slating, I weighed all the conditionals against one another to come up with my preferential list of billets. Staring at my wish list, I couldn’t help but ask myself, if I got my number one choice, will it help me fight the good fight? And with that came a flood of follow-on questions. Where do I stand tactically? Am I as proficient at warfighting doctrine as I am with seamanship and navigation? The short answer was, I could be better. The long answer came from a conversation I had with my first tour Executive Officer. He had a ‘grow where you’re planted’ philosophy but if given a choice, he also believed that you should pick some dirt outside your comfort zone. The notion of being challenged, adapting and overcoming was an idea I grew love. Rather than speculate if my next tour would help me get exposure to tactics, I sought out a guarantee. As a Warfare Tactics Instructor (WTI), I pursue tactical excellence on a daily basis and the follow-on responsibility the patch carries personifies the rewarding process of adapting and overcoming. As of April 2020, Mine Warfare (MIW) is the newest WTI to join the existing three established WTI programs -Amphibious Warfare (AMW), Anti-Submarine / Surface Warfare (ASW/SUW) and Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD)- for the Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC). There are currently only five us in the entire Fleet. Together WTI’s push for tactical proficiency and excellence in the Fleet through doctrine development, advanced tactical training, operational support and capabilities assessments. My particular interest in the MIW WTI program stemmed from serving onboard USS TULSA (LCS 16), a Mine Counter Measures (MCM) LCS. Of the 32-weeks spent in training, more than half of that took place in Ostend, Belgium at Ecole de Guerre des Mines (EGUERMIN), the Belgian-Netherlands Naval Mine Warfare School. I studied alongside Mine Warfare Officers from NATO countries, becoming proficient in mine sweeping, hunting, laying and the associated planning and execution. Each day I was amazed by the level of knowledge my NATO classmates possessed, how quickly they can rattle off the specification of the KMD-500 or reference the Pmax equation down to the ATP paragraph number. It was both humbling and motivating and I aspired to get to that same level of knowledge.
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July 2020
In The Spotlight
Summer Edition
Eight months of immersing yourself in tactical publications and mine logic calculations also brought with it an appreciation for MIW that I would not have developed otherwise. Mines are simple, they are cheap. So if I can name just one thing I learned, it is that mines are an equalizer for the adversary; allowing them to stand a fighting chance against a formidable force. None is truer than the $15 million damage to the USS PRINCETON, done in by a $1,500 mine. Now a patched WTI, I am afforded the opportunity to once again work with the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) outfitted with the Mine Countermeasures (MCM) mission package. As the MCM LCS’ integrate into SMWDC led Surface Warfare Advanced Tactical Training (SWATT), I get to be part of the focused training and the process of demonstrating the MCM LCS’ ability to exercise combat capability, lethality and interoperability. Additionally, when opportunities present themselves I take part in the observation of test systems. The chance to see systems in action and shake hands with the system developers before they integrate into the Fleet allows WTI’s to get left of problem for doctrine development. Ultimately, I’m not just learning doctrine, I get to write it.
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