Employment of boat forces reservists Story by Master Chief Petty Officer Kyle Thomas, Station Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina My crew and I are lucky to be at Station Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Our station is close to Sector for administrative support when needed, and it’s located in an almost year-round vacation destination with great surfing and fishing. We are also fortunate to have a large number of reservists assigned to the unit. This allows the active duty to focus on other tasking or worklists while never losing sight of the fact that we facilitate our reservists’ training so they can be deployable for contingencies. Reservists also benefit units operationally; certified reservists can quickly take a one-boat unit and turn it into a two- or three-boat unit for those busy holiday weekends or high op-tempo evolutions during the summer months. That’s also the time when all the restaurants are packed on the island, so we’re fortunate to have two reservists who are culinary specialists. They make outstanding meals. Having them onboard keeps the galley open during weekends, keeping operations on track. Being short on people throughout the Coast Guard, especially during transfer seasons, reservists with certifications such as coxswain, engineer, boat crew member, and law enforcement instructor are playing a large role in our success. For example, right now, we’re down to one active-duty LEI until another member can attend school, but on the Reserve side, I just re-certified two LEIs. Members with these certifications help complete currency maintenance tasks and initial qualifications for both active-duty and reservist—maximizing training for the whole unit. As with most units that have reservists, we have developed unit policy to run our program—practices that have evolved with the crew, policy and missions. With half of our crew being reservists, ensuring there is proper communication and support between components is crucial. Prior to my arrival as officer-in-charge, the former OIC and senior enlisted Reserve advisor implemented a plan to have one section of our reservists drill every other month while the other section would drill monthly. I chose to continue with their system because it was working, and the crew liked it. Splitting the crew into two sections allows the active duty to focus on smaller groups for training and operations, creating more opportunity for hands-on experience with the boats. It also allows members who live outside a reasonable commuting distance the opportunity to not have to drive in every month. An added benefit to the batching crew is that they spend four days at the station training with both duty sections, engaging directly with the whole unit. My predecessor also made the decision to have the reserve boat crews operate on the response boat-medium as the primary platform—a decision that has been beneficial for several reasons. The RB-M has a larger crew capacity to get more members underway at a time. The RB-M has the advantage over the the 29-foot response boat-small (RB-S); the platform can operate in higher winds and larger seas compared with the RB-S. The RB-M also provides professional development for our unit’s machinery technicians who can pursue the engineering certification. Success can also be more than just competency attainment. A successful reservist is one who is certified in required competencies; however, those who seek to contribute more have a broader effect. Even a qualification like boat trailer operator has an outsized impact. Civilian certifications and experience also play a large role in the success of my unit. The professional knowledge they volunteer to our unit and our crews is immeasurable. One of our reservists has saved the unit around $15,000 in HVAC costs by using their certified experience to identify needed repairs to our system. Actions like these have first-, second-, and third-order effects, like not waiting on a repairman, keeping our crews comfortable during a hot summer, one less procurement request submitted, and saving tax dollars, not to mention freeing the rest of our crew to focus on other tasks. I enjoy getting underway and talking through scenarios with break-in coxswains or boarding officers to show their real-life or scenario-based application of policy. I appreciate the professional background of reservists and how they apply their experience to their Coast Guard roles. My active duty machinery technicians and boatswain’s mates do the same, firmly linking us to our reservists and their success. Reservists can also offer in-depth local knowledge of waterways. One of our newer reservists runs charter boats in the northern end of our area of responsibility. This local area knowledge and their frequent transit of shifting inlets and shoals within the AOR is very helpful to me as the OIC and my crews for search and rescue responses. In short, the time, energy, and effort put into a unit’s reservists shows in total completed sorties, deployability, rescues, training, and an overall atmosphere of ownership—ownership that benefits not just the reservists but the entire unit. . Issue 4 • 2023 . Reservist 27 Celebrating Celebrating 70 70 years of the Reservist years of the Reservist
