Reservist

ISS1 2015

Reservist Magazine is the award-winning official publication of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. Quarterly issues include news and feature articles about the men and women who comprise America's premier national maritime safety and security

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Sector Houston-Galveston hosts its frst Reserve Coxswain College In the years since 9/11 the primary method of training Reserve small boat coxswains has been to activate boatswain mates on Title 10 orders, where they receive all of their training, and after 3 to 5 years they returned back to drilling status. This has created a problem with the majority of our coxswains being senior enlisted personnel and coupled with the closing down of most military out-load Title 10 operations, we no longer have the ready availability to train our reservists while on active duty. The Reserve Command Cadre at Sector Houston-Galveston saw this trend happening and realized the need to train new boatswain mates as coxswains within the confines of the standard training structure of inactive duty for training (IDT drills) and two weeks annual duty for training (ADT). The training center at Yorktown offers an excellent, two-week coxswain course in the 25' RB-S; however, it is difficult to get enough seats in the quota system to train all reservists. Staff at Sector Houston-Galveston reviewed the success of the local training "colleges" being offered around the country for boat crewmen, boarding team members, and pollution responders. They realized that working off of that model and using the Yorktown Coxswain course as a guide, they could develop a locally-held, intense course of coxswain instruction. After searching throughout available Sector personnel, a team of instructors and planning staff were assembled and the site of Station Galveston was chosen as an ideal location for instruction. Station Galveston, which has been rebuilt since Hurricane Ike in 2008, offered excellent classroom facilities and a vast array of training opportunities on the water, to include, the sheltered ship channel, open bays, the Inter-Coastal Waterway, and the largest petrochemical port in the country (Houston) with a high-volume of varied, commercial ship traffic. After a preparation and planning period, which began in late 2013, the course began on May 12, 2014 and ran through May 23. Eleven students and five instructors gathered with the planning staff to begin learning what they would need to complete the coxswain personal qualification system (PQS). Challenged with seasonal thunderstorms the first few days, underway opportunities were limited; however, the vast majority of classroom topics were completed during this time. Once the weather cleared, the underway days became long and hot but extremely rewarding ABOVe: Sector Houston-Galveston Coxswain College Instructors and Planning Staff (L-R) BM2 Ryan Carlisle, BM1 Matt Bufford, BMC Scott Ownby, BMC Marcus Bianca, MeC Michael Bazzrea, Lt. Michael Starnes, BM1 Courtney Cheatu and BMCS Greg Robertson BeLOW: A 25' RB-S operates in the Galveston Ship Channel, near Sea Wolf Park. 14 RESERVIST � Issue 1 • 2015

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