In 1917, The United States Navy purchased 400,000 acres (160,000 ha) of the Yorktown peninsula to serve as a fuel depot. In 1942 the U.S. Navy housed their Mine Warfare Training School on the land. The U.S. Coast Guard took possession of the school in 1957 and established the Reserve Training Center or RTC. The purpose of the RTC was to become the home of Coast Guard Officer Candidate School RTC was moved to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT in 1998. RTC was formerly a large summer training program for reservists. In 1998 the command was renamed Training Center Yorktown.
Training at TRACEN Yorktown is extensive. The training is designed to instill a profound understanding of technical and leadership skills in order to perform duties in a leadership role as a Petty Officer. The duration of "A" School training is typically 10 to 19 weeks depending on the course. Permanently assigned personnel include active duty, reserve, and civilian instructional, curriculum design and support staff. Students include Coast Guard active duty, reservists, and auxiliarists. Additionally, TRACEN Yorktown provides training to other U.S. military services and agencies, and foreign military and coast guard personnel.
The U.S. Coast Guard offers opportunities for foreign Coast Guard members to experience U.S. military training. This training enhances military skills and advances technical understanding. The international training course is 15 weeks long.
The Coast Guard is unique in that all other military branches have large bases with many services. The Coast Guard has many small stations that do not have those services. However, there are a few bases that the Coast Guard operate with all the services that other branches have on their bases. TRACEN Yorktown is one of those bases.
All students reporting to TRACEN Yorktown will receive instruction on base policies during indoctrination and must follow the instructions provided on their official orders. "C" School students will report to Lafayette or Cain Hall, depending on their paygrade, for room assignments.[2]
