MARINE CORPS AIR STATION NEW RIVER, N.C. -- Members of the Marine Aviation Training System Site (MATSS) aboard Marine Corps Air Station New River took time to celebrate the decade anniversary of the establishment of the Aviation Training System (ATS), Sept. 30.
ATS is the consolidation of all the simulators in an area under the same wing commanding general.
ATS was established Oct. 1, 2003 for the purpose of increasing the combat capabilities of the squadrons aboard the air station.
Other benefits of ATS training included reducing risk, increasing standardization and evaluating unit readiness.
“It was the first time we consolidated all the simulators together under the wing commanding general,” said Barry Fetzer, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) training system director. “There’s an operational edge to training and when we put ATS together it was the first time that all the simulators were brought over to the operation chain of command and we gave it this operation flavor that it didn’t have in the past.”
Recently MATSS established an Aviation Distributed Virtual Training Environment (ADVTE) enabling east and west coast Marine Aircraft Wings to connect and train together in a virtual environment, said Fetzer.
“In this virtual environment they can interact with each other,” said Fetzer. “They see each other, communicate with each other, they can fight each other in a simulated environment, and they can conduct a scenario-based evolution such as a tactical recovery of aircraft or personnel (TRAP).”
Fetzer added they hope to be able to soon include 1st and 4th MAW in their virtual training.
During the event, four MATSS members were recognized and awarded for their exceptional impact on MATSS.
“We often let the days pass by without recognizing the many efforts of Marines, federal employees and our contractor partners who do so much for our nation and who help to defend our nation,” said Fetzer. “I think it’s very important to celebrate those things that contribute to our success.”