towards meeting their competency and currency requirements. We also developed the service’s first-ever PSU Shoreside Security Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP) was released in September. The TTP establishes how fire teams and command and control personnel plan, execute and oversee the unit’s entry control point, point defense, and force protection functions. In creating a service standard based upon existing joint service doctrine, PSUs maintain interoperability not only among themselves but also with their counterparts in the joint force. Establishing these standards also presents a transparent benchmark for assessing how effective and ready a unit is in executing their various shoreside security mission profiles. PSU training enhancements To compliment these policy changes, a second line of effort was employed concentrating on enhancing the formal PSU training regime. The Special Missions Training Center at Camp Lejeune, N.C., has worked diligently along this line to improve the PSU “C” school curriculum. Incorporating student feedback, programmatic and operational commander input, and readiness assessment reports, two new courses were developed focusing on expeditionary operations fundamentals and shoreside security operations. Both courses ensure PSU members have a fundamental understanding of operating in the expeditionary warfare environment. The PSU Expeditionary Operations Course, partially structured upon the disestablished PSU Basic Skills Course, provides a fundamental understanding of the expeditionary warfare environment. Students will participate in practical exercises to gain the defensive skills essential for deployment in a theatre of operations, and spend part of the course establishing a rudimentary base and living in austere conditions. SMTC also developed an entirely new course, the PSU Shoreside Security Operations Course. This new course introduces shoreside security division members to the skills and knowledge necessary for their responsibilities and complements the Shoreside Security TTP mentioned above. Participants will be immersed in live-fire and practical exercises, including integration into scenarios with both shoreside and waterside security elements. These scenarios will expose students to the complexities associated with defending an operating area with both friendly and enemy forces in close proximity to each other. Both courses not only furnish PSU members with the skills necessary to do their jobs, but each curriculum aligns with the updated personnel qualification standards in the PSU CQM. The alignment between the PSU CQM and course curriculums will reduce the number of tasks, and the time, necessary for an individual to earn their qualification. Graduating from the EOC completes 25 percent of the PSU Fundamentals PQS tasks, and finishing the SSOC completes 90 percent of the Shoreside Security PQS tasks for fire team members. Evaluating PSU readiness Finally, we identified ways to better assess unit readiness. This expanded upon the Port Security Unit Program Manual’s implementation of a PSU Deployment Preparation Cycle, providing five-phased approach to obtaining prescribed operational readiness requirements. Phase I focuses on units recently returning from deployment or members coming off deployable status. During this phase, PSU Ready for Operations assessments will assist the unit in reviewing and developing their long-range training plan. RFO personnel will also assess and verify that command designated PQS qualifiers and On Board Training Team members have the requisite proficiency. During Phase II and III, the RFO team will assess how the unit is progressing towards their competency and readiness requirements. Phase II will measure the proficiency of personnel in basic qualifications, while Phase III will evaluate advanced qualifications. Both phases will use practical and administrative methods similar to past RFOs. Phase IV will focus on interoperability between operational elements, evaluating proficiency in command and control, use of force decisions, and respective tactics, techniques and procedures in a generic expeditionary environment. Assessments will be accomplished through full-scale field exercises one year prior to deployment, allowing units to focus their limited training time towards addressing any shortcomings. Finally, Phase V assessments will be full-scale exercises. This phase will largely mirror the Phase IV format, but the exercise will parallel the upcoming deployment by incorporating the operational commander’s standard operating procedures, rules of engagements, terminology, and command and control structure. Exercise evaluators will measure the unit against the supported commander’s standards rather than generic expeditionary standards. SMTC has already adjusted their evaluation criteria and checklists to account for these changes and will refine their products as the new assessment program is instituted and lessons learned incorporated back into the program. This shift in assessments, and the focus on a “crawl, walk, run” approach to operational readiness will better position unit personnel and the operational commander to complete their missions successfully. Conclusion The cumulative impact of these recent policy and training Petty Officer 1st Class Kevin Ryan signals for a vehicle to stop in an entry control point established by Port Security Unit 312 service members during the unit’s deployment to Port Hueneme, California, in support of the Department of Defense-led Pacific Blitz 2019 exercise. updates will take time to fully realize, but each effort presents a good start to providing PSU members a more defined path to qualification and readiness. Modifications to the RFO have already resulted in lessons learned and best practices being incorporated back into the program. These changes will ensure PSUs remain ready, relevant, and responsive to future challenges, and that the Coast Guard meets their expeditionary warfare commitments to the nation. � — Story by Cmdr. Shawn Lansing Photos by Petty Officer 1st Class Matthew S. Masaschi Issue 2 • 2019 � RESERVIST 37
