Monday, September 24, 2012

Speed Bumps


Team,

Assuming command a short 48 days ago, I’ve decided to jump in with both feet and start a blog.  My primary purpose in starting the blog is to highlight outstanding units and Sailors that I meet as I travel around the Navy Reserve Force.  I’d also like to generate discussion and get feedback on issues impacting our Navy Reserve Sailors today.

As the Commander, Navy Reserve Forces Command, I support the Navy Reserve mission of providing strategic depth and delivering operational capabilities to our Navy and Marine Corps team, and Joint forces, from peace to war.   I do this by delivering Reserve Sailors to their active component gaining commands at the right time with the right skills at the right readiness level.  My goal is to remove any barriers and “speed bumps” our Selected  Reservists  encounter while also maintaining accountability for the resources expended in getting these Sailors to the fleet.  It’s a fine balance. 

So, let’s kick this conversation off! First, sign up to receive my blog posts via email. Secondly, tell me about some of the “speed bumps” you have encountered in supporting your gaining command.   I’ll be using  your feedback to improve the process and am looking forward to starting a productive dialog!

All the best, Clutch        
      

12 comments:

  1. I've been a Reservist for a little over 11 years now and several speed umps come to mind. The most important is that of the Chain of Command supporting, guiding and teaching the sailor. In my unit, I'm working out of my rate and when an opportunity for in-rate traini g comes along, the COC will not support it if it's with an alternate command than the gaining command. If an opportunity in the sailors rate doesn't come along within the gaining command, the sailor is often left without an AT opportunity. Other speed umps are if the sailor would like to take advantage of the opportunity to become FTS, the unit COC will often not support the request.

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    1. Thanks for your comment. We owe it to our Selected Reserve Sailors to allow them to attend not only training which increases their billet readiness but also career enhancing in-rate training as resources allow. I'll ensure our OSO's and NOSC CO's get this message.

      With regards to conversion to FTS, all packages must be command endorsed and forwarded for final adjudication by Navy Personnel Command (PERS).

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  2. Good Morning,

    I'm on my second enlistment as a reservist and I've experienced several speed bumps along the way. I'm currently a Seabee and find that the biggest challenge we face is the lack of rate specific training during drill weekends. The current NOSC that we are attached to cannot support us, and they have told us as much. Our Senior leadership would like to provide rate specific training, but we have zero equipment available to us. We are housed in a small classroom and spend the majority of the day in there. We do try to complete as much GMT as possible, but computers are limited. There is talk regarding moving our unit to another NOSC that may be able to support us better, but nothing concrete.

    I also understand that every reserve unit in the Navy who work out of a NOSC probably experience these types of speed bumps; however it is frustrating. As a Seabee unit, we not only should be conducting rate specific training, but also unit training such as land nav and combat skills. This is essential training for Seabee units and yet we don't do any of that training. We should not be relying upon a few months of workup training prior to deployment to develop a skill set we should already have. Workup training should be used for honing these skills, not learning them.

    Sir, overall I enjoy the Navy and have great pride in being a Sailor, but there is tremendous room for improvement in supporting our SELRES.

    V/r,
    BU2 Richard Mello

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    1. Good afternoon BU2,

      Thank you for taking the time to read the Blog and for providing insight into some of the "Speed Bumps" you've encountered in your career.

      You have brought forward a concern that we have been aware of and working on for some time, especially for ratings that are more specialized in their training requirements. For the SEABEES in particular, there are several initiatives underway to address training, and one specifically that would involve providing resources for each member to travel to their appropriate East/West coast training site for specific training over a combined 4 day drill period, once per quarter. The other drill weekend would be with the NOSC. Again, these initiatives are in the planning stages and there are lots of details left to sort through, but we are getting closer to the kicking them off.

      Often the most innovative solutions come from the field. I encourage you to engage your creativity, come up with some solutions and share your ideas with your chain of command.

      Thank you again for your input.
      All the best, Clutch

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    2. Admiral,

      Thank you for the reply and insight as to what is going on at the higher levels. What you've described sounds as though it could be a good solution to the problem. I appreciate that fact that it's on your radar and look forward to seeing what the future brings. Thanks again.

      V/r,
      BU2

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  3. Admiral,

    Good morning sir, I was prior active before joining the Reserve component and there are only two speed bumps that's really an issue. The first one is readiness, I man there is training before a deployment but we should always be ready at anytime, there should be more hands on training and weapons qualifications no matter what unit. Second issue is the uniforms issue, whenever a new individual gets attached to an expeditionary unit, the uniforms are ordered but can take almost up to a year to receive them. Other than that the Reserves have not been a problem for me.

    V/R
    GM2 Wiltshire, K.E.

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  4. Sir

    I have been a Naval Reservist for a few Yrs and encountered a few "Speed Bumps" and also have a few complaints too but I managed and fiquired everything out on my own with very little help from nobody and I give the Navy my fullest 300% of my time and effort whether I get paid or not 24/7 365.

    Thank You very much for the time you spend reading this.

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  5. Good afternoon Admiral,

    Reading your Blog, I am so thrill that I have an opportunity to communicate to you my speed bumps that I have encountered in my upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.

    Training requirements are getting so much harder for sailors prior to mobilization or deployment. I had to complete 27 plus training courses on NKO, AKO and JKO. There are issues with the tools like the RAPPORT Dari course, I must somehow know to click on the broken page on the window to see the tests. I have to have JKO account to complete 2 courses: ISAF basic and COIN, and I need to have AKO account to complete ISOPREP. The Army has taken away AKO account for Navy members is one problem and having to go thru JKO account to do the training is another problem. I had window crashes multiple times when taking the M16A3/M4A1 Rifle training and was told that it should work on NMCI computer and I explained to the HelpDesk that the course must be tested throughly in a non-NMCI computer because most sailors are using CAC on their home computers and not on NMCI computers.


    To sum it up, I managed to get all my training requirements done and I have one recommendation that is the Navy should not rely on other services' accounts like AKO and JKO and should pull in all training courses into NKO. NKO should be one stop shop for sailors - including the ISOPREP requirement and this would make the preparation for mobilization so much smoother and better.


    Once again, Sir, I feel great to be able to talk to you, eventhough thru the Blog and explain my issues. Any help you can provide to ease the mobilization process for sailors would be greatly appreciate it.

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  6. Shipmate,

    I understand your frustrations with the mobilization requirements and the difficulty you're encountering working through non-NMCI systems. The requirements originate from the combatant commanders, and while integrating JKO and AKO courses into NKO makes perfect sense, the management of these courses does not allow for releasing them from one service's web based application to the next. Your billet, specifically, is more complex than normal as it is a Joint billet with unique requirements. As far as the AKO requirement, we understand that the system is currently not functioning properly for Navy members so that requirement will have to be met once you arrive either at NMPS or Fort Jackson.

    Again, I empathize with your frustration and thank you for taking the time to share it with me. I can assure you that I will continue to raise this concern at every opportunity. We'll get there!

    Regards,

    Clutch

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  7. Admiral, Thank you Sir for taking your time addressing my issues. As part of indoc at USCENTCOM, I have to retake a dozen training courses that I already did per mobilization's training requirements. There should be one DoD training list that is recognized and accepted by all services and combatant commands, just like standard college credits certified either by DoD or Joint Staff and everyone must accept it. We spend so much money and time in training and we cannot afford to waste more money and time in more training of the same. Why could CENTCOM accept training certificates from the Navy? If you would raise this concern too Sir.
    Thanks Sir.
    V/R

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    1. Shipmate,

      You make an excellent point regarding the financial strain duplicative training places on our already strapped budgets not to mention the additional time commitment of our Sailors. Thank you for raising this concern. I will take this on to engage the various staffs to eliminate redundant training requirements.

      Regards,
      Clutch

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  8. Sir,
    Your blog is full of great information and a great forum for sailors to reach out. I'm curious to find out more about the current status of AT funding. Many folks I know have AT's pending and some leaving in a few days with orders still yet to be fund approved. The local NOSC says they have sent requests to RCC who in turn send them up to CNRFC for funding. The response many are getting back is they are waiting for an answer or not sure if there is money available. Previous direction was to have orders submitted by 30 June 2013 and they would funded. Is it typical to have funding come in at the last second leaving many of our Sailors on hold with the their family and employer to wait and see? From what we are hearing is funding is out there but it is not getting to RCC or the NOSCs. Any insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Have a great day! Go Navy!!!

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