CORONADO, Calif. (NNS) -- Military leaders, government officials and construction contractors broke ground Aug. 14 aboard Naval Base Coronado on a new $60 million Combined Bachelor Housing complex.

The new facility is expected to open in the spring of 2012 and will be available for qualified enlisted Sailors E-4 and below that are permanently assigned to ships in order to improve their overall quality of life.

"The need for a facility such as this is so that Sailors when they pull into port have somewhere to live and relax," said Capt. Yancy Lindsey, commanding officer of Naval Base Coronado. "This is a brand new facility with state of the art amenities to raise the morale of our Sailors coming home."

The project is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; the act was established to help jumpstart the economy providing jobs and giving more than 75 per cent of its contracts to small businesses in the area.

"This facility is designed for enlisted Sailors who have returned from deployment and therefore have spent most of their time in passable living conditions," said Cuyler McGinley, vice president of Hensel Phelps construction. "For all that they do for us we want to make sure that they have a place to call home with all the modern services that we will provide."

The new design will include more than 264 dual occupancy rooms with a kitchenette, washer and dryer as well as community rooms and recreation areas. The grounds will feature basketball courts, volleyball courts as well as barbecue and picnic areas.

"The design for the new building is very classy and modern," said Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Allison West. "I'm really looking forward to when they open them. I would love to live here."

For more news Naval Base Coroada, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/Coronado/.

SAN DIEGO (July 23, 2010) Captain Yancy Lindsey, commanding officer of Naval Base Coronado, cuts the ceremonial ribbon at the grand opening of the Hurricane Sports Bar at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. The base spent four months relocating the facility near the Navy Gateway Inns and Suites in order to better serve the base community. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class AC Rainey/Released)

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Sailors and Department of Defense (DOD) federal law enforcement officers graduated from a joint training course for the first time in the history of Navy Region Southwest at Naval Base Coronado June 25.

The inaugural Commander Navy Installations Command (CNIC) Navy Security Forces Training Course is a pilot program designed to standardize advanced law enforcement training among all law enforcement agencies within the Navy community.

"The goals of this program are to get all of our police officers and our enlisted folks, masters-at-arms, on the same training pace," said E.A. Rhodes, force protection program director for Navy Region Southwest.

The graduation, which took place at Murphy Canyon Chapel in San Diego, was the end of a nine-week journey for the 10 DoD federal police and two Navy masters-at-arms enrolled in the course. Due to the nature of their work environments (military bases inside the United States) cadets were tasked with complex training evolutions involving the study of both federal and state law, search and seizure techniques, weapons training, and many other areas of law enforcement and anti-terrorism/force protection instruction.

"In nine weeks you cover a lot of material," said Officer Daniel Siler, one of seven graduates from Naval Air Station China Lake Police Department. "We have to go over state and federal laws constantly because laws on base are very different than out in town. It was a good course."

"It was a lot more classroom time; a lot more law; way more law than our 'A' school," said Master-at-Arms Seaman Lindsey Bakke, a Sailor assigned to Harbor Patrol at Naval Base San Diego. "We got to go do different practicals, see really a whole different side of enforcement and protection all around."

Graduates received their badges, pinned on by their families and friends, and took the police officer's oath. According to their instructors, they also saved a vast amount of time in that preparation.

"This course gives the officers the credentials they need to hit the ground running. It usually can take an officer anywhere between three to four months after arriving at a precinct in order to get into a school to receive this kind of advanced training," said Paul Gonzalez, the course's lead instructor. Gonzalez added that once in the advanced schooling officers could be in that training for an additional four months. "Nine weeks is a lot faster than nearly a year," said Gonzalez.

Instructors and administrators will review and evaluate the class to prepare for future training sessions within Navy Region Southwest.

CORONADO, Calif. (June 10, 2010) -- The 95th Annual Commencement Ceremony at Coronado High School honored 262 graduates. Using web technology, deployed parents were able to see their graduating senior cross the stage via a live stream webcast, and they were able to create a video-message for their student and have it played on the screen during the ceremony—a surprise for the graduates,  June 10.

The collective effort was intended to give graduating students and deployed parents the opportunity to share in this life event.  This was made a possible due to the efforts of the Navy School Liaison program, Commanding Officer Capt. Yancy Lindsey, superintendent Dr. Jeff Felix and the technology staff at Coronado High School.

Planning for this year's webcast and video recognition began in February. Seniors who had, or anticipated having parents deployed at graduation, were identified through the high school and the coordination process began.

This is the second year the effort has been undertaken, and Coronado High School is the only school in San Diego County do something of this caliber.