Vanguard Magazine

www.vanguardcanada.com FEBRUARY/MARCH 2023 17 INTERVIEW INSIGHT The policy decreed a functional realign- ment and accompanying specialization of roles assigned to the two formation com- mands. Henceforth, responsibilities asso- ciated with afloat (at sea) training and fleet readiness would be vested in Commander MARLANT who would also serve as the CAF Maritime Component Commander (MCC) when ships deploy operationally: the Commander MARPAC would be the authority responsible for individual train- ing and education (IT&E) and the per- sonnel management elements of force generation. In accordance with the "One Navy" concept, the Naval Reserve train- ing establishment at Quebec City was in- tegrated into the arrangement and a head- quarters was created to provide leadership and governance to this new pan-navy training organization named as Naval Per- sonnel and Training Group (NPTG). Capt(N) Matthew Coates was appointed as Commander NPTG during the summer of 2021. He is the fourth officer to hold the TRAINING SYSTEM appointment and he commands an organi- zation comprised of approximately 1000 military and civilian personnel employed at training establishments located in Halifax, NS, Quebec City, QC and Esquimalt, BC which is also home to its headquarters. A native of Halifax Nova Scotia, Capt(N) Coates is Royal Military College of Cana- da graduate (Electrical Engineering 1998) who also obtained a Masters in Manage- ment degree from Salve Regina University in 2010. Capt(N) Coates has fulfilled numerous sea-going appointments. Notably, he was HMCS Charlottetown's Executive Officer during Operation MOBILE, the Cana- dian Forces' contribution to the interna- tional response to the 2011 popular up- rising in Libya. He later commanded the Tribal Class Destroyer HMCS Iroquois and subassumed command of Sea Train- ing Atlantic, an organization responsible for verifying the combat readiness of RCN warships. Q What is the progress of Future Naval Training System (FNTS) at this time and what are the next steps ahead? What major challenges are you facing now or in the near future? The concept of FNTS was first formalized with the promulgation the RCN FNTS Strategy document in 2015. The three crucial areas for modernization and recapi- talization comprising the strategy are: • Training Management restructure to es- tablishing a clear, effective and consoli- dated training governance model • Training Infrastructure that will incor- porate flexible, multi-configurable train- ing systems in facilities collocated in a campus model. • Technology Enabled Learning digital tools applied across a spectrum of instructional design and delivery activities and sup- porting distributed learning, ubiquitous learning and networked training.

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