Reservists lead inspection standardization “revolution” By Lt. Douglas Schneider Have you ever left a drill weekend thinking you were so saturated with additional inspection requirements that you didn’t have time to work towards your base qualifications or currencies? Perhaps wondering where the time went, and how you are ever going to be able to meet your command’s expectations with all of the distractors you faced during the limited IDT and ADT time? Our active duty shipmates reported the same issues. This concern generated a directive for a single centralized office to look across the entire spectrum of Assessment, Inspection, and Audit (AIA) functions within the Coast Guard, with the goal of reducing the inspection burden across the entire fleet (while mitigating servicewide risks). In 2016, Force Readiness Command took on this challenge and mobilized a group of Reserve component members to assist in establishing the tactics, practices, and protocols to meet this new and uncharted mission. Initially, the number of these inspections was thought to be less than 50; however, as the issue was researched, more than 178 AIA-type teams or functions were classified Coast Guard-wide. The reservists helped create a plan which quickly created, enacted, and refined rigorous and reproducible processes to classify each AIA, assessed the level of risk associated with each, and optimized each AIA’s compliance checklist. This optimization was accomplished by bringing together program owners, inspectors, FORCECOM training managers, Area representatives, and impacted end-unit personnel for each AIA for exhaustive top-to-bottom reviews and validations of each program. The team and stakeholders worked together to thoroughly review and eliminate redundant checks, ensure clarity of language, and ensure policy support for each item on every checklist. The mobilized Reserve team fully embedded within the FORCECOM family to improve working conditions and safety across the entire organization, in every community. The team leveraged educational experience as well as Coast Guard experience to facilitate win-win solutions to contentious issues that arose throughout the process. The initiative resulted in an average of 79% reduction in third-party inspection line items (where an external inspector visits and stands down the unit for inspection) for many AIAs directly related to the Reserve world of work. These inspections include Boat Forces Standardization (BOAT STAN) team, Comprehensive Law Enforcement Assessment of Readiness (CLEAR), Ordnance Safety Inspection, Small Arms Firing Range Inspections, the Special Mission Training Center’s Port Security Unit Ready for Operations (PSU RFO), Mission Management System, and Command Center Standardization. The original 178 AIA-type inspections were streamlined down to 30 very carefully vetted inspection teams. Further efficiencies were found by the voluntary standdown of five programs because of redundancy or lack of substantive policy. Steps were made toward centralization of inspection and compliance data for future analysis, an initiative that paved the way for future data centralization efforts. In a tremendous example of Reserve augmentation, a handful of Coast Guard Reserve members stepped up to meet the challenges posed by the Commandant’s guiding principles. This increased efficiencies, decreased burden to the deckplate level, and aligned inspections with policy. Team members included Chief Petty Officers Rachael Chirico, and Jason Ronin, Senior Chief Petty Officers Dan Stoner and Val Kahikina, Lt. j.g. Steve Sarkees, Lt. Doug Schneider, and Cmdr. James Cullen. � Issue 1 • 2021 � RESERVIST 57
