SAN DIEGO – A 2000 Marion High School graduate and Kokomo, Indiana, native is currently an instructor for the U.S. Navy training sailors in operating the technologically advanced Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).
Chief Sonar Technician Surface Matthew Bizjak has been an instructor at the LCS Training Facility (LTF) since May 2016. “I am the lead instructor for the Anti-Submarine Warfare Mission Package and enjoy teaching,” said Bizjak.
The LTF, the first surface warfare training facility to provide integrated bridge and combat systems tactical scenario training for sailors serving on board an LCS, is operated by the Center for Surface Combat Systems’ (CSCS) learning site Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Center (FLEASWTRACEN) in San Diego.
“Sailors serving in the LCS environment demand a higher quantity and quality of training,” explained Capt. Brandon Bryan, FLEASWTRACEN’s commanding officer. “LCS class ships drive a new approach to individual, team, and unit-level training to accommodate the minimum manning and rotational crewing concepts. This new approach drives the need for the shore-centric Train-to-Qualify (T2Q) and Train-to-Certify (T2C) concepts, which rely heavily on high-fidelity shore-based trainers. Our simulators integrate LCS command and control, propulsion control, and bridge control systems to support individual training in a team environment at the basic, intermediate and advanced levels.”
Bizjak obtained an associate degree in Electronics Technology from Coastline Community College in 2014.
He joined the Navy because of his family’s strong background in the military.
“My grandfather was a lieutenant colonel in the Army, my father also served in the Army and several of my uncles served in various branches of the military,” he explained. “I want to carry on the Bizjak name as being one who has served faithfully to his country.”
Bizjak’s next duty assignment will be aboard USS Carl M. Levin (DDG 120), homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
“At the LTF, we prepare sailors to execute a wide variety of missions around the world,” Bryan said. “They leave our training facility ready to stand their watch and execute the Navy’s mission.”
Bizjak is the son of John Bizjak, who resides in Kokomo, Indiana.
Headquartered in Dahlgren, Virgnia, CSCS develops and delivers surface ship combat systems training to achieve surface warfare superiority. CSCS headquarters' staff oversees 14 learning sites and detachments located throughout the continental United States, Hawaii, and Japan and manages and operates a Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) training division in Rota, Spain. CSCS provides over 538 courses, awards 114 different Navy Enlisted Classifications (NECs), and trains over 38,000 Sailors a year.
For more information on CSCS, visit https://www.netc.navy.mil/centers/cscs/ or follow CSCS on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Center-for-Surface-Combat-Systems/1480366868885239