Naval Aviation Schools Command (NASC) was named a winner and Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) and Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit (CNATTU) Whidbey Island were named Honorable Mentions for the 2016 Navy Community Service Environmental Stewardship Flagship Award Dec. 20.

NASC was selected as the Small Shore Command winner, NATTC as the Large Shore Command Honorable Mention and CNATTU Whidbey Island as the Small Shore Command Honorable Mention. The awards program highlights commands that exhibit strong commitment to environmental stewardship via volunteer service projects.

NATTC Commanding Officer Capt. Hugh Rankin said the measures the command takes in educating the hundreds of staff and thousands of students contributed to the aviation technical training schoolhouse's continued success.

"NATTC's Environmental Stewardship Program is a command emphasized activity advocated from every leadership position and department," he said. "We identify, address and participate in volunteer opportunities involving Pensacola's environmental organizations while promoting environmental awareness throughout NATTC and the local community."

Rankin said that NATTC volunteers worked with five organizations specializing and caring for local beaches. He added that more than 100 volunteers spent 417 hours to local community beach clean-up projects, citing the more than 1,000 pounds of garbage collected during two NATTC Chief Petty Officer's Association beach clean ups.

According to the organization's award submission, NATTC staff and students also spent more than 1,200 hours volunteering for Keep Pensacola Beautiful, an organization designed to empower citizens to improve their community environment by focusing on individual and neighborhood responsibility. NATTC volunteers also assisted with Adopt-a-Park and Adopt-a-Highway programs, and also assisted in the renovation, rehabilitation and cleanup of local cemeteries.

Rankin also said the benefits of NATTC's environmental stewardship program are evident to all who choose to become involved.

"Staff and senior leadership continually teach the importance of environmental sustainability for not only our generation but for future generations," he said. "We try to impress the importance of sustainability and environmental stewardship on the staff and students who come through our doors, and hope that they take these experiences with them."

For more than 70 years, the Naval Air Technical Training Center has been providing training and increasing readiness within the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE). The facility graduates approximately 24,700 Navy, Marine Crops and international students annually and is the largest training facility in the Navy post Recruit Training Command.

NATTC is part of the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training (CNATT), which provides single site management for Navy and Marine Corps aviation technical training.

CNATT is the technical training agent for the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE), an organization designed to advance and sustain naval aviation warfighting capabilities at an affordable cost, and is the largest training center under the Naval Education and Training Command.

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