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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Boat Force Reserve Plan for Success Submitted by Mr. Don Hartmayer (CG-731) Early in WWII, Winston Churchill sent this message to Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Give us the tools and we will finish the job". This imperative holds true in the Coast Guard. Employees at all levels need resources in order to be successful. The Boat Forces Reserve Management Plan is a comprehensive five-year initiative by the Office of Boat Forces and the Office of Reserve Affairs that aligns service priorities with the right mix of people, resources, and locations to support Boat Forces Reserve readiness on a national scale. The BFRMP goal is to provide tools that will build strong and sustainable Reserve Force crews that are ready and capable of effectively operating six boats, 24/7, sustainable indefinitely, within days of notification. The creation of Reserve competencies and changes in the currency cycle has been in place since January 1, 2014. A review of CGBI data at the end of Fiscal Year 2014 shows that much has been accomplished and members are using the "tools to finish the job." As of September 30, the following numbers of certifications are held by Boat Force Reserve personnel: Competency # Reserve Coxswain 291 Reserve Boat Crew Member 817 Reserve Engineer 13 Boarding Officers 160 Boarding Team Members 282 Station staff and Reserve crews engaged in a unity of effort to realize the full potential of the Reserve Component. There are several stories in The Reservist magazine that provide excellent examples of how training through augmentation facilitates individual readiness which brings about Force readiness. Force readiness is required because Coast Guard mission success depends on crews, not individuals, to get boats underway. Over the next four years Reserve billets will be re-positioned to form a standardized Personnel Allowance List (PAL) depending on the training capacity of a Station. Once these billets are in place and crews are established the Reserve Readiness Cycle (R2C) will be implemented. In 2019, the R2C will pre-identify on-call boat crews which are ready to respond to a contingency or disaster. The crews will know well in advance when their two-month-per-year "on-call" status is scheduled, so all of their readiness preparations can be completed prior to the start of the on-call period. The crews may not get called during their "on call" period, but if a mobilization is required they are the first to respond. More information on the R2C will be provided as implementation in 2019 gets closer. At the program level we understand change can be stressful and recognize that, for reservists, successfully achieving operational readiness requires a careful balance of life, civilian career, and working to obtain and maintain required skills and competencies necessary for mobilization. Often these competing demands require many hours beyond ADT & IDT and those hours are often performed with the patriotism and devotion to duty that exemplifies reserve service. Citizen-Coast Guardians are people that serve twice. You serve the community and the Nation and are the model for maritime surge response professionals. More information on the BFRMP can be found on the CG network at: http://cgweb.comdt.uscg.mil/G-RCB/ NewReserveInitiative.htm Mr. Hartmayer is the Boat Forces Reserve Program Specialist in the Office of Boat Forces (CG-731). He can be contacted at: (202) 372-2461 or donald.p.hartmayer@uscg.mil Frequently Asked Questions Q. What will the underway hours requirement be for members that are certified 6 months or 9 months into a currency cycle? A. ALCOAST 408/14 announced a change to the currency requirements listed in BOAT Manual Volume I. The new statement is: A member who is certified or recertified within the last HALF of the end of the currency/proficiency period does not have to complete the minimum proficiency requirements for that period. A. An Active Duty member that certifies or recertifies after 01 April or after 01 October would be within the last half of the currency cycle and would not have to complete the minimum proficiency requirements for the respective period. B. A Reserve member that certifies or recertifies after 01 July would be within the last half of their cycle and would not have to complete the minimum proficiency requirements for the respective period. This does not apply to the physical fitness currency requirements which still remain a semi- annual requirement. Q. What units are included in the BFRMP? A. This project focuses exclusively on Stations. Other units with a Boat Forces component such as MSSTs, MSUs, MSDs, and PSUs are outside the scope of this initiative. Q. Why are there different currency requirements if the new Reserve competencies are on par with the Active Component certifications? A. Reserve currency requirements are built to 83% of active duty requirements. The reason for this lies in limitations on reserve recall. Reservist can be mobilized for up to 60 day under Title 14 authority. Since the potential for employment exists two months out of the year we set the currency requirement to a ten-month standard or 83%. Q. Why is there a separate competency code for reserve competencies? A. Reserve competencies fully mirror Active Component coxswain, crewmember, and engineer positions. Separate competency codes were established to aid HQ program management and assist with monitoring certification trends.

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