The Joint Maritime Training Center (JMTC), also known as the Special Missions Training Center (SMTC), is a joint

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, m ...

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

, and Marine Corps training facility located on Camp Lejeune,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. JMTC's mission is to provide relevant and credible Maritime Security Training and Operational Testing and Evaluation in support of Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security missions. JMTC comprises four main divisions: Weapons, Port Security, Engineering / Logistics, and Fast Boat.

History

The origins of the Joint Maritime Training Center lie in the Coast Guard

Port Security Unit United States Coast Guard Port Security Units are deployable specialized units organized for sustained force protection operations. They can deploy within 96 hours and establish operations within 24 hours of arrival. PSUs conduct OCONUS port secu ...

Training Detachment (PSU TRADET). Originally located in Port Clinton, Ohio, the PSU TRADET was tasked with improving the mission effectiveness, unit readiness, and providing pre-deployment support for the Coast Guard's Port Security Units (PSUs). In November 1998 PSU TRADET relocated to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and by the summer of 2001 its mission had expanded to include

non-lethal weapons Non-lethal weapons, also called nonlethal weapons, less-lethal weapons, less-than-lethal weapons, non-deadly weapons, compliance weapons, or pain-inducing weapons are weapons intended to be less likely to kill a living target than conventiona ...

and the Fast Boat Center of Excellence, as well as conducting training for cutter small boats over-the-horizon tactics designed to enhance interdiction abilities in counter narcotics operations. After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the PSU TRADET began training the newly created Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Teams (MSSTs). The unit grew and evolved to accommodate the broadened responsibilities and growing inter-agency and international training requests. In August 2002, the name of the command changed to Coast Guard Special Missions Training Center (SMTC) to better incorporate its multi-faceted capabilities. SMTC was commissioned as a Headquarters unit on 29 July 2003. In 2003, the U.S. Navy established a training detachment within SMTC to train Mobile Security Force (MSF) personnel as Tactical Coxswains and Crewmen, and in 2004 added crew served weapons training. The Marine Corps also established a small boat training detachment (SBTD) to support USMC operational requirements. In 2006, the NAVDET and MARDET commenced a two-year training surge for the Navy's new Naval Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) Riverine Force. In 2008, SMTC completed the move to four new buildings within Courthouse Bay, and the unit was renamed for the second time as the Joint Maritime Training Center (JMTC) to more accurately reflect the unit's diverse range of multi-service military personnel and training center. Currently, all Coast Guardsmen who have been selected to serve in the Kingdom of Bahrain in support of

Patrol Forces Southwest Asia Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA) is a United States Coast Guard command based in Manama, Bahrain. PATFORSWA was created in November 2002 as a contingency operation to support the U.S. Navy with patrol boats. The command's mission is to trai ...

and

Operation Inherent Resolve Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) is the U.S. military's operational name for the International military intervention against IS, including both a campaign in Iraq and a campaign in Syria, with a closely-related campaign in Libya. Throu ...

attend pre-deployment training at Special Missions Training Center.

Training

Coast Guard courses

* Non-Compliant Vessel Pursuit Course (NCVP) * Port Security Unit Basic Skills Course * Tactical Coxswain Course (TCC) * Tactical Boat Crew Member Course (TBCM) * Crew Served Weapon, Mk 19, 40mm Machine Gun Course * Basic Tactical Operations Course (BTOC) * Advanced Marksmanship Instructor Course (AMI)

Navy courses

* Riverine Combat Skills Course (RCS) * Riverine Crewman Course (RCC) * Riverine Unit Level Leaders Course (RULL) * Riverine Security Team Trainer (RSTT)

Marine Corps courses

* Small Craft Mechanics Course (SCMC) * Combat Rubber Reconnaissance Craft Repair Course (CRRC-RC)

Divisions

Weapons Division

The Weapons Division is responsible for providing less-lethal weapons testing for the US Coast Guard. The Weapons Division identifies, tests, evaluates and develops tactics, techniques and procedures for maritime delivered weapons technologies. Additionally, the Weapons Division provides weapons training and support to both Fast Boat and Port Security Divisions. Training includes various service small arms, such as the

M240B The M240 – officially the Machine Gun, 7.62 mm, M240 – is the U.S. military designation for the FN MAG, a family of belt-fed, gas-operated medium machine guns that chamber the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. The M240 has been used by the ...

M2 Browning machine gun The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, ...

and the

Mk 19 grenade launcher The Mk 19 grenade launcher (pronounced Mark 19) is an American 40 mm belt-fed automatic grenade launcher that was first developed during the Vietnam War. Overview The Mk 19 is a belt-fed, blowback-operated, air-cooled, crew-ser ...

crew-served weapons system. JMTC also operates Fire Arms Training Simulator IV (FATS), which supports crew served weapons training and tactics development.

Port Security Division

The Port Security Division provides

(PSU) and Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) training in

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

and

force protection Force protection (FP) refers to the concept of protecting military personnel, family members, civilians, facilities, equipment and operations from threats or hazards in order to preserve operational effectiveness and contribute to mission succes ...

tactics, techniques, and procedures. Courses include chemical,

biological Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary in ...

, and radiological defense, basic skills courses,

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and vehicle searches, and military operations in urban terrain (

MOUT Urban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both the operational and the tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban warfare include the presence of civilians and ...

). The Port Security Division also maintains a group of cultural guides and charts, maps, imagery and publications of strategic ports worldwide.

Engineering/Logistics Division

The Logistics Department, part of the Engineering and Logistics Division, provides the support, supplies and maintenance for all activities at JMTC. Procurement and contracting are done through various sources including those used by

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune () is a United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Its of beaches make the base a major area for amphibious assault training, and its location between two deep-water ports ( Wilmingt ...

as well as

UNICOR Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (FPI), doing business as UNICOR (stylized as unicor) since 1977, is a wholly owned United States government corporation created in 1934 as a prison labor program for inmates within the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a ...

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. gover ...

and commercial vendors. The Engineering Division handles all of the aspects of the vehicle and boat maintenance from routine preventative maintenance to ordering parts for vehicles used during training.

Fast Boat Division

The Fast Boat Division provides standardized, safe and relevant fast boat tactics and training to students. Inherent in this mission is the requirement for knowledgeable instructors, who maintain proficiency in the most up-to-date fast boat tactics, techniques and procedures for all US Coast Guard, US Navy, and US Marine Corps small boats. Within the Fast Boat Division, there are two sections: the Tactical Coxswain section, which instructs Navy Mobile Security Forces (NMSF), Maritime Safety and Security Teams (MSST), and Port Security Unit (PSU) coxswains, and the Cutter Boat Over-the-Horizon (CB-OTH) section, which teaches counter-narcotic operations to the cutter fleet.

Notes

FATS (Firearms Training Simulator)

References

External links

Special Missions Training Center
{{US Navy navbox Uniformed services of the United States United States Coast Guard schools and training United States Navy schools and training United States Marine Corps schools Deployable Operations Group