“There was interest among our group in offering E-OSC training units on a rotational basis,” said Cmdr. Jeffrey Quinn, a SURFLANT Ministry Center training coordinator. “The structure of the program makes it very flexible, so you don’t have to sit everyone down for hours on end to complete it. I think we’ll see a lot of ideas for implementation grow once the program is rolled out.”

Included in the training were sections about Combat and Operational Stress First Aid, which is a multi-step process for assessing and caring for Sailors suffering from psychological stress injuries, and the implementation of Buddy Care and Unit Assessment, which are intervention tools used to assess individuals/units during times of stress.   The instruction also focused on use of the “Stress-o-Meter”, is a web-based tool that collects subjective information based on the Stress Continuum and creates a “dashboard” for command leadership to develop an understanding and tracking of staff stress levels.

“The most important thing that I walked away from this training with was how to respond to difficult emotions and recognize an individual's stress level with the stress continuum chart, and to remember to refocus ourselves spiritually, mentally, and physically,” said Religious Program Specialist 3^rd Class Sannika Thomas, a Sailor assigned to the SURFLANT Ministry Center. 

E-OSC was developed by the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery’s “21^st Century Sailor” initiative and NCCOSC in September 2019 to assist in giving Navy leadership a foundation of understanding the value of recognizing and addressing issues, and why these skills are important.

“The goal of E-OSC is to strengthen and reinforce the psychological health and readiness of our Navy’s most important resource, our Sailors,” said Gabriel Tellez, project officer for the NCCOSC E-OSC Team. “The Office of 21^st Century Sailor is conducting this pilot training using 11 commands representing surface, sub and air commands to inform a Navy-wide implementation.

The initial NAVADMIN announcing the E-OSC program gave directions that all Naval commands need to have an established E-OSC program no later than next January. With that deadline fast approaching, training and pilot programs are beginning to ramp up in preparation of implementation, with USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) and USS Gettysburg (CG 64) already participating in important pilot programs.

“Make no mistake, these efforts are about the combat readiness of each individual at my command and our cohesive combat team,” said Capt. Corey Keniston, Gettysburg commanding officer

Beyond these initial efforts, USS Gonzalez (DDG 66), USS Cole (DDG 67), USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109) and USS Gravely (DDG 107) are preparing to initiate their E-OSC programs in advance of a future deployment with the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group.