Becoming a certified boat coxswain is the goal and responsibility of all third class boatswains’ mates. I would like the Coast Guard to establish a cohesive plan to train, and fund education to generate qualified BM3 coxswains in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. Once they graduate A-school there is no solid plan or funding to ensure the reserve member’s training stays on schedule and completes their training within the required time frame. The process for a Reserve BM3 to become a coxswain is a long and difficult journey. After boot camp they have to attend BM A-school for 14 weeks currently once a reserve graduates basic training they have a year to complete BMA School within the first year of enlistment. Then per commandant policy they have
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Once they graduate BM A-school, it depends on their motivation and the command climate at their unit. With Reserves having to maintain two careers, the current methodology is unsatisfactory. The Coast Guard needs a better plan of action. There are a few options to aid these members to successful outcomes. First, this idea is being passed around currently, giving them extra IDT drills. This is a good start but to complete this qualification, the member needs dedicated time to focus and a month break in-between tasking is not the best practice. I recommend one of two possible solutions. When a member who was recruited to be a BM graduate’s basic training and is preparing for A-school this budget should include a two week dedicated coxswain C-school planned for 3 years down the road. If the money is already blocked out and the corresponding C school is scheduled all participants, the member, their respective reserve command and the stations command will all be on the same page for the members training schedule and the member will have a clear path for success. Another way to accomplish this would be to do the focused training at their respective stations. This can be completed as ADT-OTD in the time frame from 30-60 days at the home station. This way the active and reserves can give the member the required training, the member can focus for the particular time frame to knock out the coxswain …show more content…
Our current way of doing this is ineffective and is producing very few reserve BM’s. If you fail to plan you plan to fail. The United States Coast Guard has set the process through the BM rating force Master Chief. It would serve the Coast Guard to establish a cohesive plan to train, and fund education to generate qualified BM3 coxswains in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. As a service we need to relies that there are better more efficient ways to train and develop our people, and lastly we need to invest in our people so that we can get the best out of
Once they graduate BM A-school, it depends on their motivation and the command climate at their unit. With Reserves having to maintain two careers, the current methodology is unsatisfactory. The Coast Guard needs a better plan of action. There are a few options to aid these members to successful outcomes. First, this idea is being passed around currently, giving them extra IDT drills. This is a good start but to complete this qualification, the member needs dedicated time to focus and a month break in-between tasking is not the best practice. I recommend one of two possible solutions. When a member who was recruited to be a BM graduate’s basic training and is preparing for A-school this budget should include a two week dedicated coxswain C-school planned for 3 years down the road. If the money is already blocked out and the corresponding C school is scheduled all participants, the member, their respective reserve command and the stations command will all be on the same page for the members training schedule and the member will have a clear path for success. Another way to accomplish this would be to do the focused training at their respective stations. This can be completed as ADT-OTD in the time frame from 30-60 days at the home station. This way the active and reserves can give the member the required training, the member can focus for the particular time frame to knock out the coxswain …show more content…
Our current way of doing this is ineffective and is producing very few reserve BM’s. If you fail to plan you plan to fail. The United States Coast Guard has set the process through the BM rating force Master Chief. It would serve the Coast Guard to establish a cohesive plan to train, and fund education to generate qualified BM3 coxswains in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. As a service we need to relies that there are better more efficient ways to train and develop our people, and lastly we need to invest in our people so that we can get the best out of