Navy Reserve Sailors from Navy Reserve Commander U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. Fleet Forces, U.S. 3rd Fleet, and U.S. 7th Fleet work in the maritime operation center in support of Exercise MAKO Sentry in San Diego. The MAKO exercise series provides the Navy Reserve an opportunity to enhance their skills and provide continued operational level war support in a realistic, challenging, and dynamically responsive environment/scenario within an existing drill weekend. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Elton C. Wheeler)

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NORFOLK, Va. (Feb. 5, 2025) Navy Reserve Sailors from U.S. Fleet Forces (USFF), U.S. 2nd Fleet, U.S. 4th Fleet, and U.S. 6th Fleet pose for a photo with Rear Adm. Kenneth Blackmon (center), vice commander, United States Fleet Forces, at the Navy Warfare Development Center (NWDC) in Norfolk, Virginia, for MAKO Challenge 2025 from Jan. 30-Feb. 2. The MAKO series is designed to provide Reserve Sailors hands-on experience within the Operational Level of War (OLW) environment including a Maritime Operations Center (MOC) scenario. (U.S. Navy photo by Ian Delossantos)

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The OLW training continuum prepares Reserve Sailors for battle through both unit and individual training.  It covers the schools Sailors must attend to gain the knowledge they need to perform their job and the practical exercises that implement that schoolhouse knowledge, putting it into practice. To bring it together and validate overall mission readiness, they are continually assessed for readiness and certification to ensure they are ready to deploy to their mobilization billets at a moment’s notice.

Academics

Sailors receive baseline OLW training through general courses at the U.S. Naval War College that include the Maritime Staff Operators Course (MSOC), Maritime Operational Planners Course (MOPC), Maritime Headquarters Staff Course (MHSC) and the Executive Level Operational Level of War Course (ELOC), to understand what the Maritime Operations Center (MOC) is and how it operates. These courses cover what part cells and working groups, and the people within them, play and how to monitor the operational environment, understand maritime operational level of warfare concepts, terminology and processes, and the Navy Planning Process so they are capable of immediately supporting the commander’s decision cycle in a dynamic and complex environment. Each Sailor has a specific job in the MOC and receives specialized training that prepares them to perform those duties. That’s where community specific schools come in, to provide Sailors the background needed to perform within their specialty. From intelligence to fires and logistics to public affairs, specialized schools play a significant role in preparing Sailors to perform in the next phase of learning, the practical exercise.

Practical Exercises

Practical training focuses on what functions Sailors are performing during exercises, which translates into certification of their qualifications. At the OLW, fleets hold major wargaming exercises to practice scenarios and give Sailors simulated experiences in working together in a time-constrained environment that mirrors real-world events and responses. To help bridge classroom training to practical implementation, seasoned OLW warriors work with new Sailors to help them practice what they learned at MAKO series events at the Navy Reserve OLW Center of Excellence in San Diego and Navy Warfare Development Center in Norfolk, Virginia.

“MAKO is an OLW planning exercise for Reservists. The idea behind MAKO is to take a person who knows nothing about MOC or operating at the operational level of war and give them an introduction to all of it. MOC training involves Sailors learning what a watch floor is, what their position would be, and what they will do while on watch,” said Capt. Mike Chin, MAKO Director and U.S. Pacific Fleet Reserve Chief of Staff. “This is the first stop in training for a lot of these folks who have never been on a MOC floor and don’t know what MOC even stands for. It’s to get them started and up to speed through training evolutions, and then get them any support they may need.”

The OLW training continuum provides a path for training both novices and experts, ensuring they are always ready to answer the call on day one.

“At the numbered fleets, U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. Fleet Forces Command and U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, the reserve component is critical to a commander’s ability to effectively operate their MOCs,” said Rear Adm. Kenneth Blackmon, Vice Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command and Flag Champion, OLW Force Design.

The Reserve component provides almost half the manpower for the MOCs around the world which is why we are focused on generating capable ready forces to support our active-duty counterparts.”

Fleet level exercises fine tune fleet staffs to work together in wartime scenarios. An integral part of this involves Reserve and active-duty Sailors training side-by-side to better understand each other’s roles and relationships, the working groups and cells they should attend, and how to staff products and provide input to orders.

As part of the continuum, at the individual Sailor level, fleet specific Job Qualification Requirements (JQR) for each MOC position have been developed or are in development to provide a checklist of information, schools, training and qualifications, and actions that must be completed before a core MOC Sailor is certified and deemed ready day one. Fleet planning teams rely on MAKO events to ensure progress on these JQRs, increasing Warfighting Readiness across the fleets.

Certification

Individual Sailor readiness is measured through an Individual Training Plan (ITP) that collectively feeds into unit readiness, assessment and ultimately certification.

ITPs are tailored to each Sailor in a unit. They track the processes, required schools, and advanced training and experience a Sailor needs to complete to be certified as ready to deploy to their mobilization billet. Sailor status in each category is input into the Navy Reserve T-Ready system which tracks individual training requirements and related readiness items for use and assessment by command leadership.

MOC certification provides a Commander the confidence their headquarters, through their MOC, is prepared to carry out their warfighting mission by supporting their decision cycle and enabling their subordinates to succeed. Fleet commanders depend on MOC Training Teams from the Navy Warfare Development Center and U.S. Naval War College to assist in enhancing warfighting capabilities, assessing their teams, and enhancing the Navy’s maritime command, control and readiness at the OLW.

The support Navy Reserve Sailors provide at the OLW is essential to the success of their commands. Their ability to remain trained and integrated with their active-duty peers through the OLW training continuum provides the surge capability the Navy needs to win the upcoming fight.

“The Navy’s operating all over the world all the time and the Reserve force has been instrumental in helping address some of those critical gaps that we have at sea,” said Blackmon. “The comprehensive training our OLW Sailors receive is key to our ability to get them out to sea to support the Navy in maintaining maritime dominance.”