In a message released by Rear Adm. Kyle Cozad, commander of Naval Education and Training Command (NETC), the Center for Information Warfare Training (CIWT), on board Naval Air Station Pensacola Corry Station, Pensacola, Florida, was recognized for winning the 2018 overall NETC Training Excellence Award (White T) for best Navy learning center, Feb. 14.

This is the third consecutive year CIWT has won the overall White T, and the second consecutive year CIWT swept all graded functional merit award areas.

“The CIWT domain team exemplifies the highest degree of training excellence found throughout NETC," said Cozad. “The team’s continued success in the delivery of training ensures highly-trained, lethal warfighters are ready to fight and win our renewed great power competition.”

The annual Training Excellence Award (TEA) program recognizes commands for demonstrating superior performance for training or training support. NETC uses metrics to determine how well the commands are doing across various aspects of the mission, and the TEA provides a way to track progress and make adjustments, if needed. 

To be considered for a functional merit award, commands must achieve a minimum score on established performance measures dealing with every aspect of a training center’s mission. The learning center with the highest cumulative score percentage from all the functional areas is awarded the White T. 

In the near future, the CIWT domain team will receive a certificate and the overall TEA pennant, or blue burgee, to Capt. Nick Andrews, CIWT’s commanding officer. CIWT is authorized to display the burgee for the third consecutive year, throughout 2019, to highlight its outstanding accomplishments and excellence in delivery of education and training.

"To be recognized as the Navy’s top learning center for three consecutive years is truly humbling, and I can’t be more impressed and appreciative of the entire CIWT domain team,” said Andrews. “Preparing our Sailors and other service members for war is our top priority, and I firmly believe our team is successful because of the true passion and dedication to mission engrained within our entire workforce.” 

The eight functional merit awards CIWT swept include the Business Administration and Support (Yellow T); Planning and Programming (Silver T); Total Force Management (Red T); Logistics Management (Blue T); Information Technology Management (Gold T); Curriculum Management (Black T); Training Support Management (Bronze T); and Training Production Management (Green T).

"The entire CIWT team is all about becoming better each day, and I’m truly grateful for the recognition of our efforts,” said CIWT Command Master Chief Francisco Vargas. “I’m extremely proud of the entire CIWT team, full of dedicated military and civilian information warriors, and how they positively impact fleet readiness for the Navy the nation needs.”

With four school-house commands, two detachments, and training sites throughout the United States and Japan, CIWT is recognized as Naval Education and Training Command’s top learning center for the past three years. Training more than 21,000 students every year, CIWT delivers trained information warfare professionals to the Navy and joint services. CIWT also offers more than 200 courses for cryptologic technicians, intelligence specialists, information systems technicians, electronics technicians, and officers in the information warfare community.

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