By JOHN BURLAGE

John Burlage is a senior writer for Navy Times.

 
They were ready aboard the guided-missile frigate USS Hawes for an onslaught of bright, curious young people scheduled for a visit one recent windy winter's day on the waterfront at the Norfolk (Va.) Naval Station.

Firefighting gear was set up for use in the ship's helicopter hangar aft. A fire hose was primed to pump out thousands of gallons of water as damage controlmen stood ready to turn the youngsters into nozzlemen and other members of the ship's firefighting team. In the ship's darkened combat information center, an eerie glow emanated from consoles as operations specialists prepared to help their visitors understand how Hawes identifies potential targets. And forward, on the forecastle, boatswain's mates fed out heaving lines to help their young charges practice some fundamentals of the all-important seaman's trade--passing lines from ship to shore or from ship to ship for replenishment.

This was on a Saturday, normally a slack day for a ship in home port. But these youngsters were special, therefore deserving of special treatment.

They were not coming from a school or church or a community youth group. They were members of the Naval Sea Cadet Corps (NSCC) and the Navy League Cadet Corps (NLCC)--specifically, members of the Top Hatters Squadron, which calls Naval Station Norfolk its Navy home. On the first weekend of each month, the 55 or so members of the squadron, who range in age from 11 to 17, muster at Building B-30 and are transformed over the weekend into a quasi-Navy group with things nautical on their minds.

"They stand quarters [for muster] on Friday night," said Lt. Cdr. Robert Ivey, NSCC, a retired Navy radioman 1st class who said he "gladly" commits nearly 40 hours a week to serve as an NSCC volunteer. "They start the weekend with a uniform inspection, then complete their school homework before moving on to Navy correspondence courses."

First-Hand Realism

This Saturday was to be occupied mostly by the visit to Hawes. It is critical, Ivey said, that Cadets have a chance to burn off their energy--and to learn about the Navy firsthand--by visiting fleet units. In fact, ready access to the waterfront is a key ingredient in the formula that makes the NSCC different from other youth groups.

Minutes after they boarded Hawes, the Cadets were immersed in damage control. Two crewmen gave the youngsters an explanation of how various equipment items work, paying particular attention to an oxygen breathing apparatus and a naval firefighting thermal imager that senses hot spots. The Cadets then got to take a turn as a fire hose team, a tough job even with the pressure throttled back to a safe 70 pounds per square inch instead of the 140 to 160 PSI the hose usually puts out.

"We didn't want anybody getting hurt," said Damage Controlman 1st Class Rickey Lamphere, leading petty officer of the ship's Damage Control Division. What the Cadet trainees did get, Lamphere said, was a realistic view of firefighting aboard ship.

"They were very absorbed in what we were putting out," said Lamphere, who has spent well over half his 15 Navy years at sea, and has served as an instructor ashore.

The Cadets also visited the ship's bridge for a lesson in navigation from Lt. Dion Brewer, command duty officer on the day of the tour, and learned some heavy-duty lessons in handling a heaving line on the forecastle.

The Cadets were ready to turn in by the time taps sounded, falling into their bunks in the two-wing open-bay barracks--one wing for boys, one for girls--that had been set up for them.

Most of the Cadets "are here because they want to be," said Ivey, whose NSCC experience started in 1979 when he was a crew member of the frigate Edward McDonald and saw a Sea Cadet unit marching down the waterfront in Mayport, Fla. "I wanted to get my stepson involved," Ivey said. "We both signed up," he said, after he found a flier about the NSCC unit in Jacksonville. Soon after, like most of the other volunteers who run the organization, he was "hooked" on the program.

Ivey said he realizes that some of the young people he commands have mixed feelings about the NSCC. Some are in the program "mostly because their parents want them to be." All of the Cadets do benefit, though, Ivey insisted, from the unique mix of military orientation and fun that is fundamental to the organization.

A Patriotic Mandate

The NSCC's official literature describes the Corps as "a civilian, nonprofit, federally chartered training and education organization sponsored by the Navy League of the United States and supported by the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and other military services." The same literature says the Corps has four primary objectives:

• Develop in young people an interest in seamanship, aviation, and related subjects;

• Build in Cadets a sense of pride, patriotism, courage, self-reliance, discipline, confidence, and other qualities that mold strong character and good citizenship;

• Instill an appreciation of military history, customs, and traditions, and the importance of a strong Sea Services team; and

• Familiarize Cadets with the benefits and prestige a military career offers.

Much of the Corps' mandate is similar to what one might find in the literature of any other organization dedicated to molding young people into good citizens. For 40 years the Navy League has emphasized that the NSCC and NLCC offer America's youth hands-on training in nautical skills, teamwork, and leadership opportunities, as well as scholarships and the right to wear an impressive uniform.

"These kids are our future," said Cdr. Scott James, commanding officer of the Hawes, as he watched the Top Hatters drill as firefighters. "These young people come in voluntarily on their weekends to better themselves. We ought to do our part to help them learn about the Navy."

James LaPoint, a junior at Lakeland High School, is the Top Hatters Squadron's master at arms. He was with the group that marched with some degree of military precision down the pier to the Hawes, past the historic battleship New Jersey, and one of those who saluted smartly as they requested "permission to come aboard, sir."

"I wanted to be a pilot since I was seven years old," LaPoint said in a telephone interview recently--he was babysitting at the time. "It goes with the territory," he said.

LaPoint came across the NSCC in an Internet search for Navy sites. When he saw the Top Hatters Web sitehttp://members.aol.com/nsccths/--LaPoint was hooked. "I saw there were people with the same interests," he said, "and that it would help my career." Since he affiliated in September 1998, this "Cadet of the Year" has been to winter boot camp in Texas, gone through airman school in Norfolk, and--in what he considers a real coup--attended the FAA's ground school at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

Sea, Shore, and Overseas Training Opportunities

Learning about the real-world sea services--the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Coast Guard--is the focal point of the NSCC and NLCC programs. The Sea Scouts, another fine youth organization, focus more on sailing and small craft, said Michael D. Ford, executive director of the NSCC and NLCC programs. Paid instructors in Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) units in high schools across the land teach elective courses that mix nautical theory with some hands-on training, Ford said, but, when school ends, "that's it" for most if not all NJROTC students.

That is not the case for Sea Cadets and League Cadets, though. Summer is when the fun really begins for them.

NSCC National President James R. Ward reported last year that more than 5,000 of the organization's 7,550 Cadets participated in 1999 formal summer training programs, both at sea and at various naval/military bases throughout the United States. More than 100 Cadets participated in international exchange programs as well, Ward said. The Cadets stood watches alongside active-duty Sailors and Coast Guardsmen aboard Navy and Coast Guard vessels and at stations ashore; they also ate the same chow, and worked in the same spaces where maritime skills were not only being practiced but being used in real-world naval operations.

NSCC National Chairman Bruce B. Smith, who wears a "double hat" as the Navy League's national vice president for youth programs, praised the 1999 summer training program as "among the most productive ever in terms of numbers--and quite possibly the richest in terms of training provided and the varied spectrum of training choices available to Cadets."

The prestige of the Cadet Corps also seems to be growing. Sea Cadet headquarters reported recently, for instance, that the 7th International Sea Cadet Association conference--hosted by the NSCC last October in Arlington, Va.--drew delegates from Australia, Bermuda, Canada, India, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa, and Zimbabwe also are members of the association, which was founded "to promote international and intercultural understanding, good will, and friendship among young people who have an interest in nautical activities."

Numerous Positives--And Two Big Negatives

Do all of these positives mean that all is going well for the Navy League's Cadet programs? Well, yes and no.

"This is a fantastic group of kids," said Bobbie Symuleski, who said that her son, Robert Symuleski Jr., active in the program for five years, "interacts with other kids with the same interests and receives good leadership training. ... He has such a goal for the military ... ." The sentence obviously did not need to be completed, since Robert Jr. already has begun the process of applying for admission to the Naval Academy.

Bobbie, a Navy wife, serves as an ombudsman for the Top Hatters and considers among her most important duties explaining to the civilian parents of Cadets why the Navy functions as it does.

In addition to Bobbie, the Top Hatters benefit from the efforts of a dedicated group of other volunteers anxious to see the unit grow to its goal of 100 actively participating Cadets. Not all units fare so well, though. Almost all NSCC units need more adult volunteers. "This is the same problem that faces so many other youth groups these days," said Harold Learson, a longtime NLUS national director and a member of the NSSCC Board of Directors. "In any youth organization, the adult leadership determines the level of activity possible. More volunteers are definitely needed to permit all of the Cadets enrolled to take advantage of all of the opportunities available to them."

Additional funding also is needed. The Navy League underwrites almost half of the NSCC/NLCC annual national budget, but the financial support for NSCC units must come from local Navy League councils and/or other civic-minded patriotic organizations or individuals. "Many Sea Cadets cannot afford to pay for their own summer-training transportation, berthing, and messing expenses," said Navy League National President John R. Fisher. "For that reason, we encourage all Navy League members and councils to support the NSCC and NLCC programs not only by participating as adult volunteers, but also by helping to defray the cost of summer training.

"Many councils and individual Navy Leaguers do contribute very generously to these fine youth programs," Fisher continued, "but the support is sporadic. A higher level of financial support is needed--on as regular a basis as possible--to ensure that all Cadets receive the training they need and deserve, and to permit the NSCC and NLCC programs in general to grow to their full potential."

Federal Support is Needed

When enough volunteers are available, and funding is sufficient, the result is almost invariably a top-flight unit. "The Navy League has been great down here," said retired Navy Capt. Michael O'Hearn, an officer of the Navy League's Hampton Roads Council and a strong NSCC backer. "Any time I go to them [the council]--and it's frequently--they never say 'no' to [requests for] support for activities involving local units like the Top Hatters."

O'Hearn also knows, though, that increased costs accompany the ongoing effort to make the Top Hatters a premier NSCC unit. "The bigger it gets," he commented, "the more expensive it gets."

Ward said that he and other NSCC leaders believe that a modest allocation of federal funds to support the NSCC would be both appropriate and an excellent use of taxpayer dollars. The Navy apparently agrees. In 1980, according to Navy League officials, the Navy's recruiting command--which considers the NSCC a prime source of future recruits for both officer and enlisted training programs--sponsored a legislative package that would have permitted the Navy to provide funds for support of many Cadet Corps activities. The proposal was shot down by the Defense Department, the NLUS officials said--but only because of tight restraints on overall defense spending. A renewed effort is now underway to secure federal funding so that Sea Cadets can enjoy the same benefits and opportunities provided by the government to many other youth organizations.

"What we need is more and steadier support," Ford said. "As the services draw down [in size], it has become more difficult and more expensive to get berthing for our Cadets. And berthing is a key to training. So is the number of people available to help train the Cadets. ... The summer training program is our life's blood. We just need more support for the program, which helps not only the Cadets, but the sea services as well.

"Congressional funding is essential to expand the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps into more communities and school systems. Funding to offset adult leader training and Cadet training costs, including transportation and uniform expenses ... is needed to increase program access by America's youth and develop the fine citizens our country needs and deserves." 

For additional information about the NSCC and NLCC programs contact: Headquarters, Naval Sea Cadet Corps, 2300 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Va. 22201-3308; phone (703) 243-6910; Fax (703) 243-3985; e-mail hnyland@navyleague.org or visit www.seacadets.org on the Web.