JINSA Leaders Visit SEALs and Special Boat Teams in Stennis, Mississippi

JINSA Chairman Michael Nachman, Chairman of the Board of Advisors David Steinmann, and Vice Presidents Joel Sprayregen and Len Yablon with Commander Hayes.

On December 8-9, JINSA national leaders had the rare opportunity to visit Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, the home of the Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School (NAVSCIATTS) and Special Boat Team 22, both important assets to the Navy SEALs. We began the visit with a group welcome dinner in New Orleans hosted by Alan Franco.

The visit gave JINSA leaders unique knowledge of training and operations at this important installation. JINSA organizes base visits as part of our outreach efforts to make sure our supporters understand the work our servicemen and women are doing to keep us safe and to bring this knowledge back to their communities to be advocates for a strong U.S. military.

JINSA leaders are briefed in a NAVSCIATTS classroom.

NAVSCIATTS trains students from the U.S. and partner nations on small craft strategy, operations, communications, weapons, maintenance, and instructor development. More than 10,000 students from 100+ nations have graduated since 1963. JINSA leaders learned first-hand about the school and the extensive training they provide during briefings from different instructors. After training is complete, students take part in a variety of missions including interdicting drug shipments in Central and South America and combating violent extremism in Africa and Asia.

JINSA leaders in front of a Special Operations Craft.

After briefings at the training school, JINSA leaders had a working lunch with members of the elite Special Boat Team 22 (SBT-22) and Commander Harry "Chuck" Hayes. Following lunch, Commander Hayes gave JINSA a briefing where he discussed the uniqueness of SBT-22 and the soldiers who serve under him. SBT-22 is one of three Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman (SWCC) teams in the U.S. and is the Navy's only Special Operations Riverine team. SWCC teams work to support special operations missions, particularly those of the Navy SEALs. SBT-22 training is done on the Special Operations Craft-Riverine (SOC-R), a high-speed boat with an impressive weapons and equipment capacity that JINSA leaders observed up-close.

We ended our Stennis visit by witnessing a live extraction exercise conducted by SWCC and SEAL teams. Watching this extraction first hand was a special opportunity and one our leaders will soon not forget. Click the video above to watch part of the exercise.

If you would like more information about future base visits or our national leadership, please contact Harris Vederman at hvederman@jinsa.org or call 202-667-3900.