Training Center Petaluma is a

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

training facility in the northern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

counties of Sonoma and Marin. Approximately 4,000 students train there each year. It was formerly the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

Two Rock Ranch Station. The training center is located in a rural area north of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

at . It is about from the coast and west of the city of

Petaluma, California Petaluma (Miwok: ''Péta Lúuma'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 census. Petaluma's name comes from the Miwok village na ...

, west of the junction of Tomales Road and Valley Ford Road, just south of

Stemple Creek Stemple Creek is a long, westward-flowing stream in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin, which feeds into the Estero de San Antonio. Its waters ultimately reach Bodega Bay, part of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary ...

and the village of

Two Rock, California Two Rock is an unincorporated community in Sonoma County, California, United States. It is located on Stemple Creek in a rural area west of Petaluma. A hill named Dos Piedras (Spanish for "two rocks", above sea level) overlooks the community ...

. The facility occupies more than of land, which include 129 family housing units and 90 other buildings. It has its own clinic, chapel, fire department, and police.

Rating specific training schools

Students at the individual "A" schools receive entry level training in one of these ratings: * Electronics Technician (ET) * Culinary Specialist (CS) * Health Service Technician (HS) * Information System Technician (IT) * Operations Specialist (OS) * Storekeeper (SK) * Yeoman (YN) Graduates of these "A" schools can be advanced to Petty Officer Third Class and are then assigned to a new duty station. "C" school training is also offered for advanced training in each of these ratings.

Subject matter specialists and course writers

Each of the "A" schools at Training Center Petaluma has Subject Matter Specialists and Course Writers assigned to it for the purpose of developing up to date course materials and instructional aids relative to each rating. These specialists are usually

Chief Petty Officer A chief petty officer (CPO) is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards. Canada "Chief petty officer" refers to two ranks in the Royal Canadian Navy. A chief petty officer 2nd class (CPO2) (''premier maître de deuxiè ...

s that are very experienced in their rating. Courses developed are used in the field to help enlisted persons learn new skills in their rating. Advancement is dependent in successful completion of these courses and passing grades on Service-wide Examinations in each rating.

Chief Petty Officer Academy

The

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, m ...

operates the Chief Petty Officer Academy at the Training Center Petaluma. This Academy trains

s for the Coast Guard and Master Sergeants for the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

. Enlisted Coast Guardsmen who have advanced to Chief Petty Officer, must attend the Chief Petty Officer Academy, or an equivalent Department of Defense school, to be advanced Senior Chief Petty Officer; United States Air Force Master Sergeants, as well as international students representing their respective maritime services, are also eligible to attend this Academy. The basic themes of this school are: *Professionalism *Leadership *Communications *Systems thinking and lifelong learning

Other advanced training

Other schools offered include advanced leadership training in Course Design, Instructor Development, Professional Development as well as Instructional Systems training.

History

The

built a top-secret communications station on this site during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The Coast Guard took possession on July 1, 1971 and converted it into a training facility. Up until that time, the facility was one of the major radio intercept posts in the U.S., referred to by a

Monitoring Station Designator Monitoring Station Designators were used by the United States Army Signals Intelligence Service to designate a specific signal intelligence monitoring station in order to allow analysts to understand the source and type of SIGINT they were analyzing ...

Environmental hazards

As of 2007, the site carried over of

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, ...

and were being released into the air each year. These releases have been ongoing since at least 2001.

References

External links

Training Center Petaluma
official website {{US Coast Guard navbox United States Coast Guard schools and training Schools in Sonoma County, California Education in Marin County, California Military facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area