The Machinery Technician Assignment Office (Engine Room) has decided to engage with the MK rating on a much larger platform in an attempt reach out and pass along assignment information that we believe would be helpful for your career, including everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask about concerning the assignment process. We will also try to post any official information here that it is considered internet release authorized for the widest dissemination possible (critical fill solicitations, MK Sitreps, etc.).

Before we start, we want to ensure that there are some basic ground rules -

1. First and Foremost, this is not a forum for anyone to air their grievances pertaining to their assignment history or previous dealings with their detailers.

2. We will not talk about any one individual’s specific situation here. If you are requesting specific assignment information, or individual career counseling, then we recommend you e-mail your detailer via your unit POC. If you are looking for tips on how to set yourself up for success, and the information could be useful to other Machinery Technicians, then don’t hesitate to ask.

3. We are only going to post information here that we know to be true, based on our current policy, business practice or regulation.

4. Because we are MK Detailers, much of the information passed here will tend to be rating specific and will not apply to other rates. While all Detailers use the same Personnel Manual we all have different ways of managing our accounts because of the dynamics of the individual ratings.

5. We cannot afford to post everyday nor will we try to, especially during the Assignment Season – however, we will try to clutch in and answer as many questions as possible that are posted here but we are not making any promises.

6. ASK the questions without the fear of retaliation! We are not here to “Seek and Destroy”

We will give this a trial run for a month or so and then if it becomes too labor intensive or too contentious, we will hold true to our BECCE’S motto of “when in doubt – Punch it Out!”

We all hope that everyone is able to take away some good information from such a forum and we wish you the best of luck. With that being said, we are now Clutched-In, Pilothouse Control, and Ready to Answer All Bells!
CWO Roberts
Machinery Technician Assignment Officer

Inaugural Post

Whew, now that we got all the mumbo jumbo out of the way, let’s get this show on the road with the meat and potatoes of the whole thing! One of the reasons why we are giving this a shot is due to the number of deck plate MK’s who always seem to come here for the most up-to-date information, regardless of whether it is true or not. It never ceases to amaze us that anyone would go somewhere else for information concerning their transfers/careers, when all you have to do is contact your chain of command or the detailers actually responsible.

We thought that we would try to spread a little Christmas cheer by letting you know exactly where we are at in the MK Assignment Year thus far. Soooooo, Here’s the Scoop:

All orders for Priority 1 and Priority 2 personnel have been issued.

All orders for Command Concern Fleet Ups and Extensions have, or are in the process of being issued.

All orders for members slated for the PATFORSWA summer deployment have been issued. Members that have been selected for the winter deployment will be notified shortly via email. We do currently have an active solicitation for winter deployment on the message board. This message is not authorized for internet release, so you will have to look yourselves. We are always looking for interested candidates for possible backfill assignment, should someone not be able to execute their orders.

We are currently in the process of slating MKCM’s and MKCS’s. We have read the Fred’s Place message board and you won’t believe how amusing we find everyone’s speculation about where we are in the assignment process. One must have a sense of humor for this job! We have not begun any other slatings at this point, regardless of what is being said, and there are multiple reasons for this….One reason is due to the extremely late E-Resume submission deadline, which automatically pushes our timeline back. The reason why we started so late is because we wanted to make sure that we were able to give you the most realistic and accurate shopping list that we could…..Although this year you seem to have to take that with a grain of salt due to all the modernization taking place in the Coast Guard. We will ramp up our slating again, once the holiday season has come to an end. No matter the case, our intention is to still have all orders issued by 01 April, regardless of the late start.

A popular question during our roadshows concerns advancements and whether or not we have any idea as to the number of the cut/revision. Believe it or not, we actually have no idea….I am not blowing smoke, but am giving it to you straight. We don’t find out about the cuts until the actual moment that it hits the street. It pretty much is a wrench in our gears as it is for yours. TRUST ME!

Please go to our websites, as we really try to keep information updated there to ensure that you are being kept in the loop as to what is really going on. Another great source of information is the RFMC’s webpage on CG Central.

Well, I think that this is going to be it for our inaugural post, as it is about time to get knee deep into celebrating Christmas. I hope that everyone will be able to get something out of this and that the assignment season works out for you. It is quite possible that we will not be able to answer any posts before the New Year, but we thought it would be worth it for you all to have to have real time information as to what was going on with MK assignments. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and please be safe in your travels during the holiday season.

I have no sea time and have been in for 6 years and hoping to make MK2 off the nov swe i was wondering if there was a chance that i would be transfered or not.

Quick question, I'm heading to patforswa at a EPO position. To qualify according to tmt i will need to complete 18 months/command recommendation to accomplish the EPO afloat qual code. Would doing a complete one year tour and having a command recommendation qualify for the qual code. Just curious.

I'm not trying to be a Fred's Place post vulture but you two really need to review the rules that have been set (especially #2). This forum is a good thing and I am sure we would all like to see this continue. Don't bog down the forum with individual cases. That is for you, your chain of command and your one on one with the detailer.

Sir, just to make sure, according to the inaugural post, anybody who is currently in a Priority 1 or 2 billet and transferring in 2009, should have orders waiting in their inbox?

EPO billets:

Its it understood that PHIP (Priority has its Privileges), but with consideration to priorities, should a service member with a priority 1 get a billet over a lower priority just because of the priority?
Is it or is it not the case that EPO positions are filled according to "best person for the job" according to priority and the decision based on priority solely?
In regards to EPO billets, is the decision weighed separately across the board of resume picks because of the fact that it is a command position? I understand that we do not want to set a service member or command up for failure.
With that said, what are the decision factors considered for EPO billets?

Sir

In the Rumor mill they have said one day soon MK's will get a chance to screen for OIC and XPO jobs at stations is there any truth to this.

Also how will the lateral of so many MK's to the ME rate will effect or Rate and jobs

Thank you for your time

Pardon the typo in the previous post. Strike the second word ("it")in the opening.
Happy Holidays all!!!

Well, it looks like we caught some attention with our first post. So much for being discrete. Keep in mind, with me answering this you are going to get my in trouble with my new wife by spending time in here on Christmas Eve, instead of with her. Okie dokie, Here we go:

14274298 - I believe that you should probably contact your command, and/or detailer to talk about your career and our intentions concerning your possible advancement. I will throw this out there - We advance to fill vacancies. One should have the expectation of a possible transfer every time you put your name on the SWE dotted line.

MK1993 - I have absolutely no idea about your qual code question, but I doubt this would be a waiverable situation.

ftatu - Thank You! We have asked for such rules, as we don't want to get caught in a continual string on one aspect.

arcticcoastie - Yes, with the exception of a few orders here, or there, it is our understanding that all Pri 1 and Pri 2 personnel that are due to rotate in 2009 have been issued their orders. If you believe that this is not the case with you, then I suggest that you email your detailer through your unit POC to ensure that you have been identified.

acebuc - I don't believe that the rumor mill is correct on this one....we have heard nothing about this coming to any fruition and believe this to be nothing but a rumor.

Now the lateral question is actually very interesting and in much deliberation. It is my thought that the two largest legacy rates will probably be affected the most as we have the most numbers and the ME rate will have to be supplemented some how. With guesses of 800-1200 for numbers in the new rate, it makes it really difficult to determine what exactly is going to happen, but needless to say I see a high number of positions lateralling over to the ME rate, which in turn will cause the MK rating to shrink in size, which I believe will probably have a negative impact on our advancements. Time will tell on this one. My suggestion is to advance as soon and as fast as possible, because I believe that advancements are going to slow down drastically.

20127957 - Scores the question of the day. Yes, we believe that we are choosing the best person for the job. Yes we use priority as a driving factor in our assignments, however, it is just that - an assignment factor. We do weigh all applicants for the EPO position using the past experiences of the detailers in the office. We address a member's career summary, training, competencies, marks, endorsements, and PDR history. If a high priority meets these, then the priority should carry some weight in the slating. However, we have slated member's with lower priorities to EPO positions, as we believed that the higher priority applicants did not fit the bill for the EPO assignment. High priority is not a guarantee of an EPO assignment. The EPO panel is screened by multiple layers, from the detailers, CAC's, & EPM-2, which provides a great detail of checks and balances. We do not just slate and issue orders. It should be known that we have an extremely low RFC rate, and much of the ones that we have had usually pertain to unforseen issues from even previous EPO's w/ excellent career paths.

It is very promising to see so many viewings thus far, and I am encouraged by the amount of postings. I have to admit that I was actually surprised by the action that had taken place over night. OK...time to sign off to enjoy the next couple of days...I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and safe travels during this holiday season.

CWO John Roberts
MK Assignment Officer

quote:

2. We will not talk about any one individual’s specific situation here. If you are requesting specific assignment information, or individual career counseling, then we recommend you e-mail your detailer via your unit POC. If you are looking for tips on how to set yourself up for success, and the information could be useful to other Machinery Technicians, then don’t hesitate to ask.

3. We are only going to post information here that we know to be true, based on our current policy, business practice or regulation.

I am not an MK rather an FS. I think that this is awsome. I know that there are many people who look at this and have questions that will benefit the entire rating.

I would encourage everyone to take advantage of your AO's words. I know if you follow the the guidelines there is so much knowledge you can attain.

My thoughts!

FS1 Anthony Noel

CWO Roberts,
Just wanted to throw in a "I think this is great communications effort"- sure wished we had it 5- 10 yrs ago. Alot of information seems to get "missed" if personnel don't get in for the roadshows/or understand the transfer process.

Thanks for helping those Junior to you succeed in their careers and for spreading the word of wisdom.

Roger G. MKC (ret)

ACEBUC; The issue of allowing other ratings serve as XPO'S & OINC'S has come up to the HQ level before. When I served on the Commandants Diversity Advisory Council a few years ago we discussed this issue with very little interest aside from myself.

I am now on the Leadership Advisory Council and I brought this subject up offline with a few of the other members and they thought it was a great idea. I am putting something together for the next meeting (spring 2009) and we will see what happens. As a former MK and EPO I have no doubt there are a lot of us who would make excellent XPO'S & OINC'S.

Bull you know it would not work. Some one hads to reign in the MK's spending. ( because everything is a priority to buy) LOL
Merry Christmas
Mike

Sir

I got another question? With so many of us making MK1 this summer with the May 2008 service wide. The ones like myself that have been told we are rotationing already and are short touring do we have to wait intell we make MK1 to get orders? Also do we fall in the regular rotation to get orders as our priorities come up?

acebuc - Congratulations on making MK1! To answer your question, you should receive your orders as soon as we have your slate complete. All orders will be issued by 01Apr. It is possible that you may receive your orders as an MK2 for the MK1 position, with or without a frocking note attached depending on the timeframe and the position that you have been slated for. Everyone that has been identified for advancement and are transferring are considered a AY transfer regardless of whether or not you are being short toured due to advancement. My suggestion for everyone is if there is a doubt on whether or not you are transferring due to advancement is to contact your unit POC and get a hold of the detailer. There is never a guarantee that we are just going to leave you there, and never assume that just because we have not heard from you that we don't have you on our radar, because we normally do...bleep...bleep...bleep...
I hope that this answers your questions.

I would like to thank mkcsnipe and askacook for your words. I would also like to thank everyone for their participation thus far.

CWO John Roberts
MK Assignment Officer

Sir-

I have a question regarding EPO endorsements. My current EPO was told by our OinC that he would not receive an endorsement for another EPO position. He read the Personnel manual, which says "Personnel who have served satisfactorily as EPO...are considered eligible for subsequent EPO assignments based on that qualification code", so he put EPO positions on his e-resume anyway and just bypassed the chain of command. However, I pointed out to him that it also states that e-resumes that have EPO positions should be submitted through the chain of command, so now we are both curious as to how this could possibly affect him during the assignment process. Can you provide any insight?

Mr Roberts,

I have a question about how the priorty works. Within a given priorty, if someone has enough sea time to advance to the next pay grade
and the other person does not, would the person without sea time beat out the other for an U/W billet? Also do the billets come off of direct access only when orders are issued or when they are slated? These are just a few questions myself and other fellow MK'S have been wondering about. Thank You!

Correct me sir if I am wrong in response to Hazels question but, 1: The qual code says you have the training and the endorsement says that you can do the job effectivly. 2: Never bypass the Chain of Command, bad things usually start happening when you do this.

Wayne,
I am 99.9 % sure that's what the persman says (or used to anyway)and you are 100% correct about the bypassing the chain- it may not hit you immediately after you do it, but when the wreckin ball comes back around it finds a way to destroy some part of your wishes. Any idea where your going yet?

Roger