Extraordinary performance in 2010: Vessel Safety Checks

Shipmates,
Last night at the Flotilla 78 change of watch George Sipes and I had the opportunity to discuss our VSC program in 2010. In the course of the conversation we looked up FL78's numbers to compare to other Flotillas in the District and Division 7's numbers to compare to other Divisions nationally.

Flotilla 78's VSC count alone exceeded that of each of the other nine Divisions in the District - 1,425 VSCs*. Way to go 78!

Only two other Divisions in D13 exceeded Flotilla 76's count of 759 VSCs for 2010 - our shipmates in Division 6 with 912 and in Division 1 with 852.

Nationally there are only three Divisions, of 170, that exceeded our total Division VSC count in 2010 of 2,958. Two of these are large Divisions in District 7 with 447 and 514 members respectively -- to our 258. The other is District 11NR - Division 10 which turned in two more VSCs - this was done with only 87 members and is an incredible achievement worthy of great respect.

Since Divisions vary so much in size it is more useful to look at the number of VSCs per active member in the Division. Nationally the Auxiliary did 4.4 VSCs per member in 2010. Division 7 did 11.5 VSCs per member. This is the fourth highest per member rate of the 170 Divisions. The four Divisions with higher rates have fewer than 100 members and one or two very productive VEs -- in the case of 11NR Div 10 they have a single member with over 2000 VSCs per year for the last 5-6 years.

A few very productive VEs (750+ VSCs/year) is a fragile way to accomplish our RBS mission. Illness or a change in focus can devastate a VSC program dependent on just one member or a few members.

This brings me to the most important point in the data - we accomplish our total numbers and our rate with a broad swath of our membership. We do have a number of outstanding performers - George conducted 475 VSCs while Lynn, Matt, Josh, Lance, Hall, and John H. were between 100 and 300 VSCs. Excluding these seven members we still had over 1,350 VSCs. In total we had 64 VEs active in 2010. We are not entirely dependent on a few members to accomplish the VSC mission. This gives us the ability to sustain our performance in the long term and meet the surge needs of ramp/dock work for Make Way, Opening Day and other events.

It is also the type of VE organization we need to continue to build to meet the challenge we face - 80 thousand registered boats and likely 100+ thousand unregistered paddle craft.

Thank you for the great work in 2010. Also my particular thanks to our outgoing SO-VE Dick Andreasen for his hard work and willingness to go anywhere, anytime to make our VE cadre effective and ensure they had the materials to get the job done. 2011 VE Decals are on hand -- let's get to work!

NOTE If you would like to look at the data I have put the spreadsheet online. Visit this link: https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AvHhc1QsrrWwdERWOEg3UDdpR0NCODd3NVYtd1FVanc&hl=en&single=true&gid=0&output=html

*All figures are from AUXDATA as of 30DEC10

Portland Boat Show Schedule and Watch Standing

Shipmates,

It is again time for the first of our major show events of the year - the 2011 Portland Boat Show. This show is an outstanding opportunity to spread the Recreational Boating Safety message, attract participation in our classes, schedule VEs, raise the profile of the joint Coast Guard/Auxiliary team and speak to potential new members.

The main show days are Wednesday, 12 JAN to Sunday 16 Jan 2010.

I encourage each of you to participate in at least one shift and, as your schedule permits, serve multiple shifts.

The uniform is ODU and we are requesting members wear inflatable PFDs (provided onsite) to showcase the ease of wear of these lifesaving devices.

Signing up for watch standing:
Last year we used an online schedule and email approach which worked well and we'll replicate the process this year.

1. Review this schedule for open watches
2. Send an email to veryuseful@gmail.com with the your availability and preferences. If your schedule is flexible please indicate that is the case.
3. You selections will be updated into this schedule upon receipt and will display in this post.
4. You will receive a confirmation email within a few hours
5. You will receive a reminder email the day prior to your watch(es).

If the watch bill does not display above please use this link.

Tickets will be provided for watch standers and will be held at will-call. You are more than welcome to spend time viewing the show before or after your shift. As with last year we will have shuttle service from the Delta Park West Marine parking lot to eliminate the cost of parking.

ALCOAST 595/10 - 2010 HOLIDAY GREETINGS

Shipmates,
As many of you don't receive ALCOAST messages directly I want to pass along the holiday message from Commandant Papp.

Thank you for your service,
Daren

R 152359Z DEC 10

ALCOAST 595/10
COMDTNOTE 5100
SUBJ: 2010 HOLIDAY GREETINGS
1. SHIPMATES, IN THE MIDST OF THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, LINDA AND I WANT TO TAKE A MOMENT TO SEND OUR WHOLEHEARTED THANKS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES.

2. EACH AND EVERY DAY YOU PROVIDE FOR THE SAFETY, SECURITY, AND STEWARDSHIP OF OUR NATION AND ITS WATERS. YOUR OUTSTANDING WORK OVER THE PAST YEAR, WHETHER ACTIVE DUTY, RESERVE, CIVILIAN OR AUXILIARY, ONCE AGAIN SHOWCASED THE VALUE OF OUR SMALL SERVICE. IN HAITI, YOU WERE FIRST ON-SCENE TO PROVIDE HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE IN THE WAKE OF A DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE, AND YOU HAVE LED, AND CONTINUE TO LEAD, THE EXTRAORDINARY CLEAN-UP AND OVERSIGHT OF THE DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL RESPONSE. WE ALSO REMEMBER OUR RETIREES, WHO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT US AND STILL SERVE AS MEMBERS OF THE COAST GUARD FAMILY. THIS YEAR, OUR FAMILY ALSO EXPERIENCED THE PAINFUL LOSS OF SHIPMATES. WE REMEMBER THEM. WE MISS THEM. WE WILL NEVER FORGET THEM.

3. WE FACE MANY CHALLENGES IN THE NEW YEAR. INDEED, THERE IS MUCH IMPORTANT WORK TO BE DONE-BUT MY FAITH IN YOUR ABILITY TO COMPLETE OUR CHALLENGING MARITIME MISSIONS HAS NEVER BEEN STRONGER. FOR NOW, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO ENJOY THE WARMTH OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON. REST, RELAX AND SPEND TIME WITH YOUR FAMILIES, FRIENDS AND SHIPMATES. AS YOU ENJOY THE COMPANY OF YOUR LOVED ONES, REMEMBER OUR COAST GUARDSMEN, AND ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN SERVING IN OUR ARMED FORCES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, WHO ARE PROUDLY STANDING WATCH, PROVIDING SAFETY, SECURITY AND PEACE FOR THIS HOLIDAY SEASON.

4. YOU ARE AN EXCEPTIONAL GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS AND I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW THANKFUL I AM TO SERVE WITH YOU. DURING THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, AND FOR THE MANY THAT WILL FOLLOW, WE WILL CONTINUE TO FAITHFULLY SERVE. THIS IS OUR CHOSEN PROFESSION. THIS IS OUR WAY. THIS IS WHAT WE DO. WE ARE THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD, PAST AND PRESENT.

5. STAND A TAUT WATCH, SEMPER PARATUS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

6. ADMIRAL BOB AND LINDA PAPP, SEND.

7. INTERNET RELEASE AUTHORIZED.

December 2010 Commander's Comments

Shipmates,
Over the last few weeks I've had cause to reflect on the sense of calm in the face of challenge that the mentorship, training and operational experience I've received as a member of the Auxiliary and the Coast Guard has granted me. I find myself responding calmly and competently to events that once would have caused consternation or even panic. I consider this sense of calm as one of the many gifts I've received from my shipmates, one for which I am very grateful. This particular gift does not come without a price, for me that price is the concern that I've not done everything I can do to ensure the safety of my shipmates. Our area of greatest inherent risk remains our surface and air operations programs. We work hard to give you the equipment, training, policies and procedures to operate safely but when it comes time to operate we rely on your integrity and judgement. This model has served us well in many ways -- we play by the rules, we use the provided PPE at the requisite times, we call off missions and evolutions due to conditions, and exercise our judgement and integrity in many other ways while operating.

We also need to count on that judgement and integrity when it comes to personally determining if each of us has the physical capability and mental focus to conduct our operational mission on a particular day or even if the time has come to switch the focus of our duties to other non--operational Auxiliary missions. The causes of such determination can be a passing illness, onset of disease, stress at work or home, a family tragedy, simple lack of rest, or any of a number of other factors. Honestly we are all aware age plays a part as well although it impacts each of us differently. We need to look to our core values and assure our culture allows honest dialog about our readiness, does not question the hard call to scrub a mission, and honors the extremely difficult decision to give up an operational qualification.

Our policy includes qualification or flight examinations. Part of the reason for this policy is to check that we are mentally and physically capable of completing the tasks for our qualification. We cannot expect our few members with responsibilities as Qualification Examiners or Flight Examiners to carry the whole burden of these judgements - hopefully we have all considered our level of competence and physical capability well before it comes time for our examinations. You should also expect your leadership to be willing to have respectful and frank conversations on these readiness topics. We owe it to each other.

This brings me back to my original point, I'm honored to work with such incredibly dedicated and competent shipmates - friends I've come to rely upon and would be willing to stand with in any storm. It is important to assure that our competency does not lead to a sense of complacency. We need to be introspective about our personal readiness and have honest conversations about operational readiness with our shipmates. We need to be able to answer yes to questions like "Can we quickly get any member of our crew out of the water?" and "Is our vision and hearing adequate to the conditions?". Again, we owe it to each other.

It is somewhat counterintuitive when discussing "when not to go out", but one thing that can make a huge difference in safety is operating regularly, participating in training opportunities, and building beyond being qualified to being truly proficient at our operational missions. There is nothing like actually operating to bring any concerns about readiness into focus.

Thank you for your service. Be safe out there and look to the safety of your shipmates,
Daren

Leadership: 24 hour rule

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/12/how_ford_24_hour_rule.html




Ford, HBR

So we put a rule in place. It says: 'You have 24 hours to take a new and emerging issue, try to understand it and see if you can resolve it yourself. After that, you have to go public with it.' It's an escalation process. Because with a lot of these issues, we can solve them pretty quickly by applying the intellect we have in this company.