I saw Legend's post about the Stations and that leads me to ask (I hope you don't mind I used your format)...

Heard a rumor and wanted to see if anyone else heard this and can confirm if there is any truth to this.
The rumor is it is being considered to have OS1's located on stateside 110's.

Of course, there are OS1's on the 110's at PATFORSWA, but is there any consideration being given to those CONUS WPB's?

Really? Are we really doing this again?

We cant fill the billets we have, we dont need any more!

If you want to go to stations and 110s, you should have went BM or MK.

WOW....brechty, are you afraid of alittle water?

If you havent noticed, sea billets for OS's are greatly needed. I think this is a great idea. There are many billets that are being filled by OS's because it's shift work. Let's start replacing those billets with "rated jobs" such as 110's

Remember the meaning of progression.....

Sorry... thought a little more about the possible opsec in this post...

PATFORSWA 110's would be SWEET if the home port is where I think it is.

Homeport for cutters is public knowledge. Run a google search. Not saying it should be public knowledge - but it is.

quote:

If you havent noticed, sea billets for OS's are greatly needed. I think this is a great idea. There are many billets that are being filled by OS's because it's shift work. Let's start replacing those billets with "rated jobs" such as 110's

Which billet would you remove?

Definately not afraid of water (got my sea time), i'd rather be on a cutter than rotting away in a command center. But i am afraid of bad ideas. Again in order to put an OS billet on a 110 we would need to take someone off. And i'm sure that someone is a big asset to that small unit. A typical OS would not be benneficial at a small unit like that. BMs can hanlde the very limited OS style work on a 110.

I gotta agree. I'm all for sailors going to sea, but I'm just not seeing how putting on an OS (and removing someone else) is making the WPB a better operating/more effective platform. Besides being a BO and OOD, not seeing how this guy earns his chow.

quote:

We cant fill the billets we have, we dont need any more!

we cant fill fill billets, hope your talking about land billets and not underway billets.

Lets see there is 19 underway billets lets say for second class next year (exactly 19, i just looked), and there is probably 10x's that many OS2's that got sea duty notifications. Lets see how many OS2's get underway that got the notification. Lets not play the whole, just ask for it, and youll get one, i tried before i transferred to the unit i am at now.

And i think this would be a GREAT thing, it would help more OS's to get underway.

Since most of our billets are LAND billets yes I would mostly be referring to the land billets.

And in my opinion, if I may add, for advancement purposes we have enough sea billets. We only need sea time for chief. Granted we dont have enough boats for everyone to make chief in 6 or 7 years, but who wants a rating full of young chiefs anyhow.

i dont want to be a 6-7 year chief, i mean i would love the pay, dont get me wrong who wouldnt.

I would like extra underway billets due to the fact that it would be a lot easier for people that WANT to get underway, not only for E-7 purposes, but those who like to be underway. adding 110's would open up an even better selection for u/w. just my .02 doesn't mean much its not gonna happen.

Well i agree with you there, we do need more underway billets, I would love to get back underway, but that wont happen until I make chief... and OSC just isn't for me at this time. And you're right 110s just isnt going to happen.

quote:

Originally posted by Brechty:
Since most of our billets are LAND billets yes I would mostly be referring to the land billets.

And in my opinion, if I may add, for advancement purposes we have enough sea billets. We only need sea time for chief. Granted we dont have enough boats for everyone to make chief in 6 or 7 years, but who wants a rating full of young chiefs anyhow.

It sounds like you would rather see your junior OS members miss out on an opportunity to qualify for E-7. If you are an E-6, you have to be aware of the situation regarding OS sea billets. There is not enough, leaving E-5 to E-6's praying they get an u/w job. Im finally glad you agree that there is the need for SEA billets....not LAND billets

quote:

Originally posted by JekelKat13:
Homeport for cutters is public knowledge. Run a google search. Not saying it should be public knowledge - but it is.

Well in that case... (and I'm assuimg the port for that 110' is NSA Bahrain) you youngsters who are not married should be lining up for that gig.

Seriously, one of the best "port calls" the US Navy has to offer.



EDIT: Ok.. ok... scratch that, just saw this in another thread, shoulda looked into it more I guess.

"You want a bad rotation go over to Bahrain for a tour. I stood double mids while hot racking on a 110 while also being on the boat crew for the boardings which you do 5 a day.

There was no sleep and no nice port calls.

Once you pulled in you still worked 8-10 hr days and had duty every 2 days (if lucky 3).

that was a miserable rotation"

But if you're gonna be stuck in the Great Kitty Litter Box, you might as well do it in Bahrain. how long IS that tour anyway?

You need to look at the big picture, not just how it would help the OS rating. In reality the 110' would be losing their BM1 and all the things that BM1 does (BO, Small Boat Driver, DWO, etc...) What would they gain? Someone to do the things the BM1 is already doing! Could an OS qualify in all the things the BM1 is doing, maybe, but its a two year tour and it would probably take a lot longer for the OS to get situated than almost any BM. Add to that the fact that this would probably be the OS's first time at sea, which probably means no operational experience, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Bottom line, they aren't going to reduce the operational efficiency of a unit just so that you can have an easier time getting your sea time for Chief.

quote:

Originally posted by underwhelmed:
You need to look at the big picture, not just how it would help the OS rating. In reality the 110' would be losing their BM1 and all the things that BM1 does (BO, Small Boat Driver, DWO, etc...) What would they gain? Someone to do the things the BM1 is already doing! Could an OS qualify in all the things the BM1 is doing, maybe, but its a two year tour and it would probably take a lot longer for the OS to get situated than almost any BM. Add to that the fact that this would probably be the OS's first time at sea, which probably means no operational experience, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Bottom line, they aren't going to reduce the operational efficiency of a unit just so that you can have an easier time getting your sea time for Chief.

Where is your faith for an Operational Specialist. So what you are saying is that an OS out of "A" school that goes to a ship (any size) is "a recipe for disaster". How do they let nonrates be stationed on 110's?

What qualifications do u/w BM's have that an u/w OS does not have besides small boat quals? Navigation (covered) Comms (covered) Operations (covered) Charting (covered)....Now there is deck work but when I was stationed on a 378, we resurfaced the 01 deck several times during my tour. We painted the O1 deck and bulkheads too many times to count. Are we really replacing the job of BM's just because we need more billets for sea time or is it because OS's are capable of handling the same job?

I understand that the idea of an OS stationed on a 110 is a distant dream, but to say we are not qualified is completly wrong.

Jinx76,
OSs have chart and electronic navigation down, but know nearly nothing about piloting a vessel, nor do they even take NAVRULES, (BMs Do) Also you can bet that a BM2 or BM1 on a 110' is BO qualified, or at least an experienced BTM. In addition you can bet that a senior BM on a 110' has much more leadership experience than a typical OS. Sure an OS could learn the job and perform it fine eventually but like stated above this would take the entire 2 year tour to do, whereas a BM is pretty much ready to jump right in. So I agree, a typical OS is not qualified to fill a BM job on a 110, thus we will never take on that job.

What I would give to conn a 110' again...

Just a old QM lamenting...

Manitou 90-92
Matagorda 95-97
Aquidneck 97-99

Brechty
The argument is not that OS's should replace BM's on 110's...but that OS's do have qualifications to be a working and beneficial member aboard a 110. We already do this in Bahrain.

I was referring to your post comparing BM and OS onboard a cutter, and whether or not an OS can handle the same workload, nothing about simply adding one. The 110's over there have different needs and have been manned and maintained differently than here stateside. No reason for an OS on a 110 stateside, we would just be taking up space and achieving qualifications not applicable to our rating.