Sea Cadets learn electricity with Army Prime Power

Fort Belvoir's Center for Seabees and Facilities Engineering hosted the Alexandria Division of the Naval Sea Cadet Corps Sunday, emphasizing power production training and basic electricity.
A joint service team of Navy Seabee students, Soldiers and instructors from the Army Prime Power School teach the program.

According to their Web site, the NSCC is for American youth ages 13 to17 with a desire to learn about the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine. Cadets are authorized by
the Secretary of the Navy to wear Navy uniforms appropriately marked with the Sea Cadet Corps insignia.

The program is aimed at introducing youth to naval life; to develop in them a sense of pride, patriotism, courage and self-reliance; and to maintain an environment free of drugs and gangs.

To begin the day, the cadets were led through a safety briefing on the hazards of working with electricity.

Throughout the day, instructors working with the students emphasized the importance of safety.

"Definitely, the key focus today is safety," Staff Sgt. Taran Dailey said. "We weren't about to let them work with anything that could hurt them.

"The highest voltage they will be working with is 27 volts, which is virtually impossible to even penetrate the skin," Dailey said.

After the safety briefing, Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Norris led the cadets through a lecture on the history of electricity and basic electricity. They covered such topics as amps, voltage, resistance and short circuits.

During the lecture, the cadets were also able to make electricity, by using a motor and light bulb.

"I think the kids got an understanding of where power and electricity came from," Norris said. "One of them pointed out that Benjamin Franklin invented electricity, but, in reality, he discovered it and they now know that it was a progression."

Following the lecture, the cadets split up into groups of two and began the hands-on portion of the program.

"Today, we are going to be showing them some basic electrical circuits and what the different components are and what they are supposed to do," Jack Merkle, a civilian instructor with the Prime Power School, said. "Then, we will go through and help them build one on these circuit boards."

Students were able to conduct various different exercises during the hands-on period, with different types of circuit boards.

The program will continue in the near future, when the cadets return to the school to learn about pistons and how crank shafts work in diesel engines.