Terroristic attacks to natural disasters “It’s part of the job” Courtesy of "THE COMPASS" bi-monthly publication of NWS Earle MWR Posted:03/11/10
Click on picture to Zoom
Monmouth County, NJ - Wil Fetherman takes his job as Installation Training Officer very seriously. But he's got a great sense of humor that makes the job easier and the results more effective.
The retired Navy Chief, who spent 20 years as a Hospital Corpsman in the Navy, working primarily with Marine Corps units, took over the Training Officer position last November, a day before his official retirement from the Navy.
A native of neighboring Pennsylvania, he knew he wanted to retire some place close to home. That idea solidified into retiring in New Jersey after he was stationed at NWS Earle in 1995, met Mary Claire, a Jersey girl, and the couple married two years later. Today, they are purchasing their first home, in Shark River Hills, and Mary Claire is the human resources director for Earle.
Animated, knowledgeable, and intent on his work, Wil said he was eager to work at Earle as a civilian..."It was my first choice"... so when the position with Battelle, the Ohio based company that is a contractor for emergency training on base, came open, he quickly applied.
Now, less than four months into the job, Will is busy putting together and planning all varieties of training for personnel on base. The result is, hopefully, a civilian and military body of workers prepared to act or react in any eventuality from a terroristic attack to a natural disaster.
Describing himself as "a klutz" during his teen years, Wil said he saw enough of the interior of hospitals and emergency rooms to know he would enjoy working on the positive side of health care. Believing he had neither the appetite nor aptitude for college, he opted instead to join the Navy and sign up as a Hospital Corpsman. The decision spelled out a career that took him from Corpsman School to stints, with the Marine Corps, at the Naval Hospital at Camp LeJeune, later to Okinawa, the Med, Saudi Arabia, and more enticing towns like Naples and Rome.
But it was the 1995 transfer to Earle and marrying Mary Claire that made a significant difference in the life of this Sailor. "MC encouraged me to go to school," he explains, "and knowing how interested I was in public health management; we both knew it was necessary to have a formal education." Wil subsequently earned an undergraduate degree in health care management and a master 's degree in emergency and disaster management, both from Touro University in California, giving him a strong background for the civilian job he holds today.
If it weren't for the Navy, he admits now, looking back at his teen years, "I'd probably still be doing what I did then...working in a bowling alley or a supermarket."
His job at Earle entails planning for any type of disaster, and ensuring personnel are educated in how to meet any untoward eventuality. And he brings fun and a sense of humor into lessons that are deadly serious.
"It's part of the job to ensure that the training is realistic enough so people know what they have to do, or what they will do, in a real world incident," he explains, his hands gesturing to encompass the enormity of the project. "And that's also the most fun of the job. ...Coordinating drills, using smoke machines..."
His job is made easier, he quickly concedes, because of the cooperation and teamwork exhibited at all levels, from the chain of command through department heads. "There are no egos involved here," he continues, "everyone just wants to get it right; nobody says ‘I don't want to play...' "
There's really no such thing as the stereotypical terrorist, "the training officer explains, "we have home grown terrorists now, and there isn't any one description that fits all." He doesn't talk a lot about his stint in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where part of his job was to ensure the health and health needs of the detainees, a chore he did not particularly enjoy, primarily, it would seem, since he was stationed in Washington, D.C. on 9-11, 2001, and saw first hand the destruction and death at the Pentagon. But he did enjoy subsequent work in Afghanistan when, in addition to being part of a surgical team there; he also helped set up a hospital, dug wells, and improved health standards for the local people. "You know," he shrugs, "we did the kind of stuff you don't hear or see in the main stream media."
Right now, Wil believes he has come full circle, and is looking forward to his next step forward. He loves being back at Earle, which, he thinks, is a lot different from what it was 15 years ago. "But it's still small enough and friendly, where we all know each other by first names. It's a great place to be."
