Naval Training Center Orlando, established in 1968 on the former McCoy Air Force Base site in central Florida, served as one of the Navy’s three primary recruit training commands during its operation. Alongside NTC San Diego and NTC Great Lakes, NTC Orlando processed tens of thousands of Navy recruits annually through basic training before they received fleet assignments. The installation also hosted technical training schools that educated enlisted personnel in ratings including engineering and electronics.

Shore Facility Asbestos Sources

NTC Orlando’s facilities were constructed beginning in the late 1960s, a period when asbestos remained in widespread use in institutional construction. Buildings erected between 1968 and the mid-1970s incorporated asbestos-containing materials that were standard in large-scale Navy construction of that era:

  • Barracks and recruit housing built at the installation’s 1968–1972 opening period used asbestos floor tile, ceiling tile, and pipe insulation
  • Steam and mechanical systems serving the training complex were installed with asbestos pipe lagging and asbestos-containing gaskets on flanged connections
  • Technical training facilities — classrooms, labs, and shops used for rating training — were built with asbestos-containing construction materials standard through the mid-1970s
  • Administrative and support buildings constructed through the early 1980s may have incorporated asbestos in floor and ceiling materials

Recruit Training and Technical Schools

Work histories in Navy veteran records document sailors who completed basic training in Orlando before fleet assignments during the 1976–1982 period. One such document describes training for the Navy in San Diego followed by an Orlando-area assignment — reflecting the pattern of recruits cycling through training centers before rating school.

Technical school students who attended Navy rating training at Orlando received instruction in aviation, electronics, and engineering subjects in facilities where asbestos-containing building materials may have been present depending on construction date and renovation history.

VA Claims for NTC Orlando Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure at shore installations. Veterans who completed basic training or served in technical school billets at NTC Orlando during the late 1960s through early 1990s and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer should document their assignment through DD-214 records listing Naval Training Center Orlando or Orlando, FL.