RESERVIST MAGAZINE THE MORE YOU KNOW e-Reserve: The Coast Guard unveils new tool for one-stop reservist admin Information on Reserve-related processes has always been a hot commodity. When someone learns a skill, they pass it down to those who follow. But sometimes that information is passed incorrectly, or with gaps, due to the telephone-game style of intel relay. Bad information persisted, and without knowledge of the correct resources, mistakes were prevalent. For the last 17 years, Cmdr. Omar Barajas, the logistics specialty manager for the Office of Work Force Management, has worked on Reserve issues at many types of units, mainly as a day-to-day manager of reservists as part of the Reserve Forces Readiness System. He was no stranger to solving issues reservists ran into, but keeping track of ever-changing sources was difficult, both for him, and for the reservists solving their own admin problems in the field. “If you’re a reservist with limited training time, and you’re spending time looking up administrative questions, you’ve got less time to learning the skills the Coast Guard needs you to know for deployment,” said Barajas. He wished there was a checklist of all the annual requirements needed to stay current as a reservist, as unit to unit, year to year, the same problems would pop up. As an RCM working in Houston during the massive 2017 hurricane system, Barajas experienced firsthand how quick deployments only exacerbated the mistakes. Aiming to stop the telephone game of information passing, Barajas drafted a two-page guide on Reserve administration at the local unit level. He amended it as he moved from unit to unit, updating it when processes changed. “Everything I’ve amassed has been an Easter egg hunt. I’d keep it in the back of my head—this is where this answer is, this is where that answer is.” Occasionally, he’d find rogue copies sent to him—a slightly altered version of his checklist. Eighteen months ago, he found an opportunity to employ his idea on a wider scale. A member of his staff, Chief Petty Officer Faust Capobianco, was working on creating a distribution list for chief engineers to relay information to the field nationally. Barajas suggested they take it a step further to create a Coast Guard Portal page where the information, links, and best practices would live perpetually. They sketched it on a piece of paper. He worked with designers to create an easy-to-use, “one- stop shop” that could be used in managing reservists’ administrative, medical, and operational readiness across the fleet. The end goal of this tool is to empower reservists to manage their own careers. In December, the Coast Guard unveiled a Command Center for Reserve management. Long term, eReserve is designed to be a tool for reservists to manage their own careers, and for administrators to more easily solve problems when they arise. 44 RESERVIST � Issue 1 • 2021
