Volume 4 November 2015

Transcription

1 Important AOM News and Updates Submitted by: COMO Gary Taylor DIR-R Meals: While this has been addressed in several venues in the past, it appears some members did not get the word about the new meal reimbursement provisions in AOM. So, here it is again: Effective in August 2014, subsistence (meals) must now be checked manually for each member who was furnished and consumed one or more meals while underway. Meal periods are currently defined as: , Breakfast; , Lunch; , Dinner; and , Midnight Rations. If you change the itinerary times after you check the meals for your crew, AOM clears all meals so you have to go back in and check which meals you are requesting to be reimbursed for. Auxiliary Members and OIA Privileges: Changes were recently made in AOM based on Federal Law and Coast Guard Policy regarding committing to and approval to disperse federal money (our tax dollars). The law and ultimately CG policy dictates that authority to commit funds or approval for payments is delegated only to federal employees who are commissioned/warrant officers, enlisted E-6 and above or civilian GS-7 and above. As such, those permissions have been removed for all Auxiliarists, civilian employees below GS-7 and enlisted personnel below E-6. Since Auxiliary members are not federal employees, this means order requests can only be approved and submitted to FINCEN by those who have that authority as listed above. In addition, BSX has determined that Auxiliary members can no longer be granted the roles of OIA or DIRAUX or be given any permissions dedicated to those roles. Direction has been given to all DIRAUX/OTOs to remove these roles (or permissions) in AOM. If you had an OIA or DIRAUX role, you will be changed to Owner/Operator role. If you had only the permission(s), the permission(s) will likewise be removed. EFT Form: There is a new Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) form accessible from the AOM web site. If you already have EFT set up with AOM, then you do not have to do November 2015 Inside this issue Important AOM News and Updates Special Ham Radio Event for the 225 th USCG Birthday Leadership- Not Just for Coxswains Personal Protective Equipment: Tools for Survival anything. However, if you change your bank account or are setting up EFT the first time for AOM, then pay attention. (continued on page 2) 1

2 Important AOM News and Updates (cont.) You can no longer submit the EFT electronically as in the past. You can save the form and then it to the FINCEN or print it and fax to FINCEN. Once the EFT is set up at FINCEN, you get a confirmation and a copy goes to the Tier Two Team at OSC. Entering EFT into AOM is a manual process so it can take several days for it to show up in AOM after the is received. Locked Account, Forgotten or Expired Passwords: Accounts are locked after 45 days of inactivity or three consecutive unsuccessful log-in attempts usually because of using the wrong password. To unlock the account due to using the wrong password, you can wait an hour and then try again with the correct password. For inactive accounts or as an alternative to the wrong password use, you can request a temporary password from the New Account or Forgotten Password? link using your member ID and user name on the AOM landing page at: which will be ed to your AUXDATA . You will be required to change your temporary password when you log-in, following the password criteria provided. Your old password will be the temporary password you got in the and logged in with. CG Cyber Security policy requires passwords must be changed every 90 days. User Guide: If you have problems or questions about AOM, there is a very useful AOM user guide you can view or download on the AOM Landing page at the "USER GUIDES AND TUTORIALS" tab. Special Ham Radio Event for the 225th USCG Birthday Submitted by: Dan Amoroso August 4th marked the 225th anniversary of the United States Coast Guard. To commemorate the day, the Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad set up the KVRS communications van to broadcast from the site of a former Coast Guard high-frequency radio station NMJ in Ketchikan, Alaska. Some of the local hams in town set up the Com Van up at the old CG radio site at Point Higgins and operated it on the high frequency ham bands to talk to ham stations around the country and world from the old location of the CG Ketchikan Station NMJ. Historically, station NMJ went on the air in 1941 and was the 17th district s primary station until 1976 when the USCG shut it down and transferred operations to Kodiak...a sad day for all NMJ operators, causing many tears and raised glasses in salute to the brotherhood of CW (radio Morse code) operators everywhere. says Bob Kern, KL7NC and former Coast Guard operator at NMJ. Volunteers setting up the antenna on the KRVS van are pictured above Kern is retired from the Coast Guard. He worked at the (continued on page 3) 2

3 Special Ham Radio Event for the 225th USCG Birthday (cont.) Ketchikan radio site from 1964 to He says at one time about 25 people worked at the facility. There was a cook, a chief engineman who had a couple of helpers to keep the generators operating and they tended to the mechanical parts of the operation. There were a couple of electronic technicians who maintained all the equipment. It was great. I just loved it out here. Coast Guard Electronic Technician Mike Leska gave a tour of the Point Higgins site. There used to be barracks up there, a little dining facility, I think the C.O. had his own house. There were line watch standers that stood a live watch 24-7 that would listen to the radio for distress calls and they were also in charge of sending out broadcasts like weather information and maritime safetyrelated notices. Today, the few similar CG stations are sparsely dispersed around the coastal areas of the country and they have limited HF capability and the CW operations are no longer in service. RADSTA NMJ circa 1965 is pictured above Now the stations are multi-use facilities focused on SAR and using new technologies became the end of an important era in traditional CG and marine radio communications. Operators for the event: Bob Kern, Chris John, and Gary Freitag Special Thanks to the men listed above and Maria Dudzak for use of this story. Leadership- Not Just For Coxswains Submitted by: James McCarty DVC RS When we think about leadership, we often visualize the image of someone who holds a formal position of some sort. He or she may wear distinctive The Responder is produced by the National Response Directorate, United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, at no cost to the U.S. Coast Guard or the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Please submit articles for Publication, via the chain of leadership and management, to the editor: Lauren A Pugh lauren.pugh@cgauxnet.us Confidentiality Notice: PRIVACY ACT OF 1974: The disclosure of the personal information contained in this publication is subject to the provisions contained in the Privacy Act of The subject Act, with certain exceptions, prohibits the disclosure, distribution, dissemination or copying of any material containing the home address, home telephone number, spouses names, and social security numbers, except for official business. Violations may result in disciplinary action by the Coast Guard and/or civilian criminal sanctions. insignia or a device on their uniform, or they may have attained some high level of qualification relative to their organization or group. The (continued on page 4) 3

4 Leadership- Not Just For Coxswains (cont.) Auxiliary is somewhat unique in that as volunteers, no member has the authority to order us to do anything. We rely on the good faith and dedication of all members to agree to be led. This is the true essence of Leadership. This concept of a willingness to be led is practiced every day by our boat and air crews who follow the instructions of the coxswain or aircraft commander because they want to and because they have confidence in the leader. But what leadership responsibilities do the crew members have in the Auxiliary? The principles of Team Coordination Training focus on improving the quality of decision making by appointed leaders, but this TCT philosophy goes beyond just the coxswain and aircraft commander. Among the seven elements or skills of team Coordination practices, Assertiveness often receives little attention. In part, the Boat Crew Seamanship Manual states that individual crew members must take responsibility for the safety of all on board by speaking up, and by stating and maintaining a position until convinced by the facts that your position is wrong. In other words, we also ask that individual crew members become leaders, regardless of their position title or rank insignia. Clearly, when engaged in air or sea operations, there is a time and place for discussion and conversely, there is a time and place to quickly comply with instructions, depending upon exigent circumstances and the situation. When we, as crew members, become aware of a potential risk or hazard, we are obligated to speak up and show some leadership. The situational awareness element of TCT demands that we remain constantly alert for risks, communicate our position to the Coxswain or aircraft commander, and insure that sufficient discussion and analysis takes place before a decision is made as long as circumstances permit. When we see a fellow crew member in some medical difficulty, or when we notice a lapse in procedure that could be dangerous, or any other divergence from safe air or surface operations, we have an Lauren Pugh, Editor lauren.pugh@cgauxnet.us obligation to speak up. In some instances, this may feel awkward or uncomfortable, but if we, as a crew, fail to become actively involved in the decision making process, we risk the safety of our shipmates and the success of the mission. All crewmembers, whether coxswain, pilot or watch stander, have leadership responsibilities...this is where the Team in Team Coast Guard becomes truly meaningful. Leadership is something that is earned in the organization, be sure to set the example as a leader in all your missions with the Auxiliary regardless of your formal title or role. 4

5 Personal Protective Equipment: Tools for Survival Submitted by: Joseph Smith BC-RSS As we are all well aware, the Auxiliary has been asked to make some changes to our PPE distribution, tracking, inspection and maintenance procedures. The specific policy and guidance can be found in the Rescue and Survival Systems Manual, COMDTINST M and local Districts PPE Policies. Some crew members have questioned this new procedure? It was working fine the old way. This is just more work for us and I am just a volunteer, Why do I have to make sure my batteries are up to date in my firefly and secure it to a line with a bowline? Of course, the answers are obvious. 1. Wouldn t you want to take the opportunity to insure that your PPE is going to work correctly rather than hope it will when you need it someday? When we are underway as Coxswains, Crew or PWOs, we are always facing the possibility that we may have to rely on our PPE. If something occurs we could wind up in the water with an improperly serviced or inspected PFD that could fail us. On a night mission I would really want my Strobe to work as correctly and efficiently as possible. It is equally important that my whistle is readily accessible so I can easily find it and alert someone that I had fallen overboard before the vessel was out of range. 2. Examples of some deficiencies that are easily corrected are: Batteries in our Fireflies/Strobe lights that have passed the expiration date or are actually missing from the device; many crew members are not aware of the expiration dates on the battery or someone has borrowed the batteries for the TV channel changer and we assume they were there last time we checked it. 3. PLB s - batteries have expired, NOAA registration is past due or unit is not correctly registered, the NOAA ID numbers do not match your unit. We must carefully compare registration numbers on NOAA registration to be sure they MATCH YOUR unit. Units with incorrect data in an emergency could place you thousands of miles from your actual location. Safety of personnel is the highest priority for all surface and air operations. Some notable changes are as follow: OIAs shall designate at least one Auxiliarist recommended by the Flotilla Commander in writing as the Rescue and Survival Systems Officer (This is the correct title for this role until an SO/FSO position is formally announced. (Do not use the term Safety Officer) (continued on page 6) 5

6 Personal Protective Equipment: (cont.) Their role within each flotilla is to manage PPE issuance, training, and maintenance. If a flotilla has no active Boat Crew Qualification Program participants among its membership and no survival equipment that is subject to these provisions the RSS Officer does not need to be designated. IAW Rescue and Survival Systems Manual, The R&S Officer can be the FSO-OP or any other Flotilla member having knowledge of the PPE program IAW Rescue and Survival Systems Manual, A Division RS&S Officer (although not yet an Official SO position), can be assigned by a DCDR to assist Flotillas with their PPE process. Effective immediately, the only automatic inflatable Personal Flotation Device (PFD) authorized for Auxiliary crews while under Orders are those that are specifically listed in R&SS manual (e.g. Mustang Survival MD-3183 v22) Auxiliarists who have procured their own automatic inflatable PFDs that are not listed in reference (B) shall remove them from service. Check with your local DIRAUX and/or OIA as they may not permit ANY inflatable use for Auxiliarists within their command. Manual inflatable PFDs are not authorized for use IAW Rescue AND Survival Systems Manual, and Auxiliary Operations Policy manual, COMDTINST M (series) This new PPE procedure will only benefit us if we take it seriously. Would you want your life or a shipmate s life left to improperly maintained or defective PPE equipment? U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Response Directorate Contact Information Program Area Staff Member address Director COMO Gary A. Taylor Gary.Taylor@cgauxnet.us Deputy Director John J. Slattery John.Slattery@cgauxnet.us Aviation Wilson Riggan Wilson.Riggan@cgauxnet.us Telecommunications Gary G. Young Gary.Young@cgauxnet.us Education Bruce C. Pugh Bruce.Pugh@cgauxnet.us Surface Operations James McCarty James.McCarty@cgauxnet.us 6