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The U.S. Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical
Training School (NAVSCIATTS) traces its history to 1961 when a U.S. Coast Guard
Mobile Training Team (MTT) was sent to the Panama Canal Zone as a result of agreements
made during the Alliance for Progress Conference in San José, Costa Rica. During
this initial deployment the U. S. Coast Guard recognized the need for a permanent
training facility. In May 1963, the USCG based the Small Craft Inspection and Training
Team (SCIATT) at the U.S. Naval Station, Rodman, Panama.
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In June 1969, SCIATT was transferred to the U.S. Navy,
re-designated Small Craft Instruction and Technical Team, and placed under direction
of U.S. Naval Station, Panama Canal as a department. At the time, NAVSCIATTS was
one of three original Panama Canal Area Military Schools (PCAMS) whose mission was:
“In conformance with the U.S. Security Assistance Program, foster increased level
of professionalism and readiness in the Naval and Coast Guard Forces of Latin America
and Caribbean Island nations through formal courses of instruction and Mobile Training
Teams in the operation of small craft including employment, maintenance, and logistic
support.”
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With the school’s success, continual training demands
and increasingly large enrollment, the school was eventually established informally
as a naval shore activity on October 19th 1982. OPNAVNOTE 5450 009B2E3/314089 of
October 29th 1982 officially established NAVSCIATTS as a shore activity on U.S.
Naval Base, Panama effective on October 19th 1982. NAVSCIATTS was assigned to Commander
Training Command Atlantic Fleet, a functional command for the Chief of Naval Education
and Training (CNET). Continued success and further expansion led to NAVSCIATTS official
establishment as a Naval Shore Command (1st CO was CDR Richard James Flanagan, USN)
on July 21st 1983 under President Reagan’s directives to enhance U.S. security forces
relationships in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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NAVSCIATTS remained a component of CNET until disestablished
in January 1999 (CNO LTR N09B22C/20 Nov 1998) as a result of the closure of Rodman
Naval Station in the Republic of Panama (Torrijos-Carter Treaty). The subsequent
decision by NSW and USSOCOM to take NAVSCIATTS as part of the “NSW Coastal and Riverine
Training Center” concept led to FY99 Program Budget Decision (PBD) 715 signed 21
Dec 1998 assigning USSOCOM the responsibility to establish and operate NAVSCIATTS
as well as ultimately relocating the command to NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center
in Mississippi. NAVSCIATTS was re-established and commissioned an Echelon IV shore
command with OPCON and ADCON through Commander Naval Special Warfare Center and
Naval Special Warfare Command to USSOCOM [shifted C2 from under CNET] during a ceremony
onboard Stennis Space Center on October 1st 1999.
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NAVSCIATTS first day of classes was held on January
10th 2000. Possessing some of the finest riverine and littoral training areas in
the world, Stennis Space Center provides an ideal training area for NAVSCIATTS.
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In 2006, the Commander of U.S. Special Operations
Command assigned NAVSCIATTS the following new mission: “NAVSCIATTS conducts Foreign
Internal Defense (FID) in support of Combatant Commanders in accordance with Commander,
U.S. Special Operations Command, priorities using Mobile Training Teams (MTTs) and
in-residence training to prepare partner nation forces to conduct small craft operations
in riverine or littoral environments.”
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On September 19th 2008, SECDEF designates USSOCOM
Joint Proponent for Security Force Assistance.
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On December 17th 2008, WARCOM decides to shift NAVSCIATTS
ISIC from NAVSPECWARCEN to NSWG-4.
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October 1st 2009 marks the 10th year commemoration
ceremony of NAVSCIATTS under USSOCOM and NSWG-4 designation of NAVSCIATTS as SFA
Proponent for Maritime Mobility.
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The school presently offers ten formal courses of
instruction in both Spanish and English at various times throughout the year while
deploying Mobile Training Teams around the globe. NAVSCIATTS has trained more than
six thousand students from over 55 partner nations.
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