2. The purpose of the Ready for Operations program is to ensure the …show more content…
More often than not, this billet captures E7’s BMC’s who are lacking experienced in the ways of command. The majority of these members are also not seeking command roles. They might be on the sidelines for personal, professional, medical, or family reasons. Occasionally they are members who have a strong desire to remain in an administrative role and not operational. They have very little understanding of the challenges that face small boat units i.e. administrative, financial, and operational. The professional experience of a vast majority of these BMC’s that assume these billets are also not previous command cadre. It is an important competency because the command experience ensures knowledge of what is operationally acceptable, things that don’t fit in the black and white of and inspections report. For example, a unit’s record in Training Management Tool (TMT) indicates that all unit Tactical Coxswains did not begin their tactical training as crewman. Now at the time there was no guidance from Boat Forces so the unit followed normal procedures. The RFO team leader not having an understanding of the overall problem stuck to his inspection sheet. The end result was the unit’s tactical coxswain’s being considered unqualified to run drills for the RFO. Another more recent example was the unit’s decision to downgrade an asset due to a damaged screw. The RFO team wanted …show more content…
The problems that could occur for AO’s assigning highly skilled BMC’s is varied. With the majority of BMC’s seeking an OIC or XPO role the candidate pool will be extremely limited. Most BMC’s are at the pivot point in their careers and are working towards command roles, or possibly they are in a candidate pool for Chief warrant officer (CWO). Also with the majority of billets being listed at E7 the standard cost of assignment in D1 is around $95k. This change in paygrade would raise that cost to around $102k a difference of