First District Northern Region 2005 Qualification Examiner Workshop 2005 QE Workshop

First District Northern Region

2005 Qualification Examiner Workshop

2005 QE Workshop



Our Session Today

• Introductions

• Ground Rules for Discussion

• 2004 Summary, QE workload

• Boat Crew Currency

• Qualification

• AUXDATA items



More session topics

• POMS for Coxswains

• POMS for QEs

• QE Currency

• OTO items

• Policy Discussion: QE selection board, QE evaluation, QEC evaluation, other topics



Breaks

• 15 minute morning break around 1030

• 45 minute lunch break around 1200

• 15 minute afternoon break around 1445

• Close at 1600

• Tour available of Berlin Fire Department



Usual Discussion Rules• Respect other participants

• Listen to what others say

• Only one person speaking at a time

• Speak slowly and clearly so all can hear and understand

• Speak only to the current topic

• Everybody needs to able to speak; facilitators may provide limits if needed



Background: BCQP is 21 years old

• The Boat Crew Qualification Program is intended to facilitate the qualification of members in surface operations, not to act as a “rite of passage” or an unnecessary burden

• The process must be professional and complete

• Not all Auxiliary members are suited for surface operations roles, even if motivated.



QEs are Extensions of OTO• The DIRAUX Operations and Training

Officer cannot perform evaluations of candidates, but the OTO is the individual that certifies members.

• QEs are the objective and subjective evaluators for the OTO.

• QEs must be the best and most experienced coxswains possible to be most effective.



QEs

• Evaluate a candidate as a leader in stressful situations. A coxswain holds the ultimate safety of the crew and vessel in their hands.

• Evaluate seamanship, specific task/procedure skills

• Evaluate future independent performance safely, under USCG policy, and as a USCG representative



2004 In Review

• First year of D1NR QEC

• Boat Crew Currency – handling of 5 year approvals

• TCT process: finding, taking biannual TCT

• QE scheduling: direct to QE. Any issues/problems?

• QE/Mentor sessions at conferences



QE Workload

• Handout shows national statistics for 2004• Remember boating season differences between

districts!• D1SR (014), D9 (all three Aux regions) probably

closest to our season• National average is 1 QE per 8.7 coxswains, and

1 QE per 10.8 crewmembers.• D1NR is 1 QE per 7.7 coxswains, and 1 QE per

13.6 crewmembers



D1NR Active Crew and Coxswain

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Cox

Crew

Cox CrewDiv 1 14 27 Div 2 27 55Div 3 12 22 Div 4 15 21Div 5 16 43Div 6 22 27Div 7 14 28Div 8 10 18Div 9 9 20Div 10 20 25Div 11 30 55Div 12 17 34



D1NR QE Availabilitystatistical area Div QEs

(<50miles)

Members/QE

SW Harbor 1 2 20.5

Portland 2 1 82.0

Portsmouth 2 7 11.7

Boston-Salem-Scituate 3,4,5,12 16 11.3

Springfield 9 2 14.5

Hyannis 11 5 17.0

New Bedford 6 7 7.0

Warwick 7,8,10 12 9.6

Entire District 31 18.7



D1NR QE Availability

• District wide: 1 QE for every 18.7 active boat crew qualified members

• Nation wide: 1 QE for every 19.4 boat crew qualified members (inactive or active)

• Our QE availability is as good or better than the national average

• Focus on very local issues of availability





Boat Crew Currency Flow

• Existing: Year 1-4: self-certify/coxswain certify. Signed form goes to IS chain for local processing. Year 5: QE. Signed form goes to OTO.

• Problem: DIRAUX office not set up to handle all the task processing, confusion over QE approval item caused trouble in 2004




• Existing: form doesn’t reflect automated POMS 7030 processing.

• Members always are confused, and processing is spotty (twice, not at all, missing items)




• Proposed: form is used for all years, always goes to IS chain for local processing. Years 1-4 self-certify/coxswain signed. Year 5 QE signed

• Proposed addition: QE sends letter about 5th year candidates to OTO, who handles ONLY the 5 year QE approval task (this is in addition to QE signing the candidate’s currency form for the IS chain)




• Let AUXDATA sort out getting all the necessary prerequisites together, that’s what a tool is for

• DIRAUX letter to member only certifies that QE approval was achieved, needs to be worded that other requirements must be met before certification is extended




• Failure to get tasks entered by IS chain, failure to get other requirements (hours, TCT, NavRules, etc) will still result in certification lapsing

• Develop increasing member responsibility and leadership awareness of monitoring necessary items




• Update form to include the necessary patrol info needed for IS processing

• Update form to include how POMS online 7030 remarks should be entered

• Currency Form may actually be redundant, but provides warm feelings of form in hand vs electronic POMS or other processing…and is the ultimate backup.




• Proposal cleans up currency form flow, but adds communication from QE direct to OTO on 5th year results

• Discussion?





Boat Crew Qualification Flow

• Some items require “proof” to be presented to QE

• Crew: Task BCM-08-01-AUX. Candidate must present some form of certificate from the listed boating courses, and QE (not mentor) signs task in Qualification Guide.

• Crew TCT: Task BCM-01-03-AUX. TCT is “readily available” in this district, so crew candidates should have this signed as complete by a mentor prior to QE dockside or underway checkride.




• Both Crew and Cox: All tasks must be complete prior to the dockside oral exam and underway checkride.

• COX:Task COX-01-01-AUX. The candidate must show proof to a QE that at least 28 hours underway as crew has been done. The choice of documents is up to the candidate, but the QE (not mentor) must sign this task. (If candidate is using deck officer or operator license, a copy will be needed by DIRAUX)




• COX: Task COX-04-01-AUX. NavRules. Candidate must show QE results of NavRules exam (completion letter, email, or AUXDATA report). QE, not mentor, signs Qualification Guide. (QEs can proctor NavRules exams if paper copies are used; online NavRules is highly encouraged instead)




• Successful completion of last task (underway checkride) requires QE to make Certification Recommendation to OTO.

• Letter to make Certification Recommendation is Appendix C of the Auxiliary Boat Crew Training Manual.

• QE is responsible for sending this letter.• Keep a copy for your QE records.





AUXDATA

• POMS has purportedly increased AUXDATA patrol hour tracking by making patrol hours easy to submit

• QEs should be listed as crew on the POMS patrol order; this means with existing POMS that the QE will get crew underway time. That’s ok, it doesn’t count towards your coxswain currency.



AUXDATA

• QE checkride time must be reported separately from patrol paperwork by QE: mission 7C

• QE dockside exam time must be reported by QE: mission 7B

• The above two mission reports are the only record AUXDATA has of actual QE missions

• The online 7030 form, emailed to your IS chain, is easy to use directly on the web. Paper copies work, too.



Reading Your Status

• AUXDATA, under Training Status, shows your Boat Crew and QE status

• For annual items (tasks), green means done, red means lacking from a prior period, black means something is needed this year

• For 5 year items, the due date means expiration of the item; YOU MUST COMPLETE THE ITEM PRIOR TO EXPIRATION.

• You can look at your own record directly, or ask your local IS chain to provide you the report.





POMS for Coxswains

• All QEs are coxswains

• All coxswains need to know the current method for handling patrol orders, reimbursement, AUXDATA recording

• Divisions that are hiding this system from members will eventually find that untenable





POMS for QEs

• Checking on validity of patrol orders for all vessel facilities involved in a checkride/5 year currency evolution

• Includes validating crewmembers





QE Currency

• QEs are appointed for 2 year intervals

• Some type of evaluation is needed for QEs and OTO to mutually decide on reappointments

• Since 1995, Chief Diraux has suggested an annual minimum underway time for QEs



QE Currency

• QEs are expected to be the “cream of the crop” in coxswain expertise

• 20 hours underway (either as coxswain for normal boat crew activity, or underway check ride time as QE) has been both Auxiliary and Coast Guard suggestion

• Some districts require a minimum QE mission count



QE Currency

• How would QEs nation wide and district wide stack up to a 20 hour minimum underway time?

• Nation wide: 33% of all QEs do not meet this minimum

• District wide: 32% of our QEs do not meet this minimum



D1NR QE underway activity

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

220

240

260

280



All Coxswains Underway Activity

020406080

100120140160180200220240260280



QE Currency

• Proposal: QEs in D1NR should have at least 20 hours underway as coxswain or QE annually to maintain premium skills; failure to maintain this level should be considered in evaluating reappointment.

• Discussion?

• QEs that are not facility owners must put extra effort in getting underway time





Operations and Training Officer





Myths

• Myth: some tasks are optional.Answer: there are no optional tasks in D1NR.

• Myth: there are no changes to the BC Qualification Guides (crew, coxswain, PWC)Answer: CHIEF DIRAUX office has been lax in online material links. Material received from AUXCEN will have printed changes to make in the guides. Coast Guard Directives System has definitive online copies.



Policy Items to Decide

• QE selection board

• QE evaluation (annually or biannually)

• QEC evaluation

• QEs (either active or in process to become a QE) in senior elected positions



Documents

First District Northern Region 2005 Qualification Examiner Workshop 2005 QE Workshop