Surfmen are the embodiment of the Coast Guard’s 169-year lifesaving heritage. When the pressure drops and the air is thick with salt, an art form is passed down to a new generation on the heaving decks of Motor Lifeboats. The veteran Surfman regales eager greenhorns with tales of courage and tragedy. Despite the marvel and glory inherent in the title “Surfman”, it is a constant challenge to fill these historic billets, certify new Surfmen, and provide opportunities to meet career milestones. Initiatives implemented to create a sustainable pool of Surfman routinely fail, resulting in billet gaps, fatigue, and low job satisfaction. The Performance, Training, and Education Manual (PTET) identifies flawed environments and ineffective reward or …show more content…
To train and retain the optimal number of Surfmen we must standardize instruction, consolidate training billets, and create an effective incentive program.
2. The National Motor Lifeboat School (NMLBS) located on the Columbia River Bar should be the central hub for Surfman training and certification. Surfman Trainer billets should be reprogrammed to general Surfman billets, and only NMLBS Instructors should sign off certification standards. Requiring a NMLBS instructor to be the signature authority for certifications will bring the surf program in line with other high risk training programs, ensure standard training techniques, and rapidly disseminate best practices. Surfman certification is currently only earned through On the Job Training (OJT) at the member’s unit. The PTET states OJT “uses unit specific knowledge and skills to improve an individual’s job performance”. Surfman certification requirements can only be met by driving a boat into breaking waves greater than 8’ under the watchful eye of a certified
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To ensure certification gains are permanent, an effective incentive program must be instituted that ensures a career as a Surfman exists. Currently, the advancement path for a Surfman is blended with other Boatswain’s Mates (BM). The BM advancement path routinely pulls Surfmen away from the surf to pursue career milestones. At the end of this assignment season, EPM reports that nine Surfmen jobs out of 125 will not be filled. Opponents might argue that there is already an effective incentive by giving all Surfmen who complete back to back tours in the surf assignment priority “3”; however, all Surfmen are required to complete back to back tours anyway. Furthermore, even with priority “3” after two consecutive tours, Surfmen normally don’t earn the competencies to serve on cutters, so they leave the program to fill small boat station career milestone billets, fall victim to high year tenure, or retire early. Offering an advancement path within the Surfman Instructor program ensures the highest levels of training, retains Surfmen who desire to stay in the surf, and provides a clear career path to attract Prospective
How can we improve the training? For training to be operative, it can't stand on its own, but should be part of an overall development strategy that results in creating an infrastructure of
He started with a series of basic underwater demolition/Seal (BUD/S), the longest military training in the world. He was pushed through hell week, which contains waking up at five in the morning
In Robert Kurson’s book, “Shadow Divers,” he reveals how a group of divers solve one of the last mysteries of World War II. Captain Bill Nagle owns the Seeker which is a charter boat that people can rent to take them to shipwrecks. Nagle is a world renowned deep sea shipwreck diver, because he pushes the limits on how far and where divers can go. Nagle has explored some of the most dangerous shipwrecks such as the Andrea Doria and Texas Tower. He has also retrieved various souvenirs from wrecks such as china dishes and the boat’s bell, but Nagle has massive respect for the history of sunken watercraft.
Including BUD/S training. Which consists of a week of non stop exercise called hell week. Where a group of SEAL trainees do the ultimate test. By being put in a freezing cold climate and forced to sleep outside with no blankets.
As Kyle was walking past a military recruitment office, interested in joining the Marine Corps, a Navy recruiter pulled him into his office. After hearing what the man had to say, Kyle thought long and hard about joining the Navy instead and wanted to give it a try. He was shortly rejected from the Seals because of the pins in his arms from the accident. After leaving, Kyle returned back to the ranch. A few weeks later, he received a letter saying that he had been accepted into the BUDS (Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL) training school which he joined in
The Naval Act of 1794 established the rank of Midshipman in the United States Navy. Although they had trivial responsibilities, their main focus was to train and become a Naval Officer. These were typically young men from the age of 14-22, but many younger than that served as an officer’s servant or volunteer. The main difference between these Midshipmen and those in modern times is that they were trained
U.S. Navy Corpsman Cadelyn Leibhart Topic: U.S. Navy Corpsman General purpose: To inform Specific purpose: To inform my audience about the U.S. Navy Corpsman. Thesis: I. Introduction A. Attention Getter: The hospital corpsman works in a lot of different locations.
Surface Warfare Officers (SWO) are known as the backbone of the Navy. For years I have desired to obtain this position and have done extensive research concerning the attributes and requirements. Because I believe the Navy begins in the heart as well as the head, I know that becoming a part of the Navy would be life changing. Commissioning as a SWO would allow me to make a meaningful difference, as well as gain unparalleled leadership experience.
Since I was ten years old, I have been a member of the Young Marines, a program dedicated to the enrichment of youth. Aside from my family and school, this organization has had an incredible impact on my life, not only providing me with many unique and amazing experiences, but by shaping the foundation of my character by instilling in me the three core principles of the Young Marines: Discipline, Leadership, and Teamwork and also by emphasizing the importance of community service. I have had many amazing and unique experiences as a Young Marine which included the challenges of promotion to become the senior ranking officer, learning many new skills such as CPR, teaching Drug Demand Reduction, leading and mentoring the members of the Unit, going on encampments and traveling. In my sophomore year, my Unit Commander, a Korean War veteran, selected me to travel with him to Seoul. Every few years he chooses a Young Marine to take to South Korea based on merit.
The fishing industry is the single most dangerous industry left in the United States. Although many safety regulations are being enforced, there is simply no way to control the ocean. The lives of up to a hundred men can rest on one captain's judgement. As fishing boats improved throughout the 19th and 20th century, boats began to move further from shore where the fishing was better. However, this placed them in much more danger from storms, gear failure and more.
Lastly there was the muscle, their job was to protect the crew and the lieutenant. A last thing he had a chance at making a good decision was when he went to the job corp. Wes made the right decision by going because he ended up getting his GED. “A year after completing the Job Corps training, Wes realized the only consistency in his employment was
With ninety-five thousand miles of coastline and thousands of inland water ways, it became impossible to protect such a vast area of responsibility (Philips and Loy 159). The Coast Guard depended on outside partnerships such as the New York Harbor pilots Association and the Port Security Unit of Reservist. Most notably, Andy, a New York Harbor pilot offers his 200-foot patrol boat to evacuate citizens from lower Manhattan despite other obligations (Philips and Loy 156). With this partnership, more citizens were rescued, not by a Coast Guard officer, but by a civilian greatly influenced by the Coast Guard; these efforts were only successful with the leverage of resources in the civilian sector.
I was grateful to him, but something was bothering me. I couldn’t save myself. That was the moment I decided that I was going to become a lifeguard someday to help myself and many others. Ten years later, after tons of swim lessons and practices, I fulfilled my goal. My first job as a certified lifeguard was to monitor a
By following the guidelines set forth by the National Marine Electronics Association, Emerald Coast Marine Electronics will have the competitive advantage. National Marine Electronics Association has created a three day training course that will put our training department on
Although while in Australia I got a ‘resort certification’, I want to be completely certified to go down very far in the water. This is a goal that I have been doing a lot of research on as well as saving money up to get certified by Summer 2017 after I graduate college. The fourth thing I would to accomplish on my bucket list would be starting my own business, whether this is a coffee shop or a YMCA type of building, I want to say that I have done it. I hope to graduate and eventually get my masters in business as well as find someone who has the same ambitions as me to help jump-start this goal and cross it off my bucket list. This is one of the things that will