If you were an OIC at a Station what would you have a Gunner's Mate do besides being the Weapon's Petty Officer. I have asked The BM's with prior Station's at my unit and recieved many differnt responses. I am looking forward to any and all responses. Please check out this link on why I am posting this discussion.
the reason behind a lot of those stations is due to the number of weapons they have now. before it wasn't that big of a deal until you start aquiring more and more weapons for PWCS missions... so more accountability. Why not have a 2nd come in that should know how do manage that many weapons and all the PMS associated with it?
Though I am a firm believer of "If you use it, you clean it!" I'm guessing with a GM at a station, noone will ever pull out a rusting weapon again.
I would think a GM would be able to contribute greatly to any LE training at the unit levels. The biggest thing, when it came to quals, the station wouldn't have to wait around for a Firearms Instructor at the Group to be available.
To echo some the comments already posted. PQS qualifier for BO/BTM, weapons and less than lethal trainer. Serve as unit SAI, PMS weapons and possibly Pyro ( free up some R&S time ), ATR's, provide training and liason with tenent commands. Serve as the single POC with the Sector/Groups for all Weps PO items. Possibly assist the TPO with TMT enteries of all LE/WEPS quals. The list goes on. I think this will set up BM's for success in EPQ's for weps when they head to unit without a GM and someone hands them WEPS the will be able to shine. Just my opinion of course.
Dan P., Excellent assesment of how to properly utilize your asset. Unfortunately some station OinCs just cannot stand the thought of a Petty Officer assigned to their unit that isn't utilized as B/O, BTM, Cox'n etc. You also deal with the whining by some who are more concerned that someone other than themselves may be getting over, whether the perception is reality or not. Then of course you have the super ignorant ones that argue that their GM3 can't be the "Weapons Petty Officer" because he isn't an E-5 and therefore assign one of their BM2's to that position failing to fully read the Ordnance Manual that states that a Weapons Petty Officer will be assigned, E-5 or above for units not having a Gunners Mate assigned. I knew of one unit that would not allow their assigned GM unaccompanied access to the armory for well over a year because they were more concerned with him becoming all those duties listed above. Meanwhile the BM2 was failing miserably as Weps PO. The real shame was the GM desperately wanted to do the job he was trained to do but was treated like crap by a petty tyrant OinC.
quote:
Originally posted by uslssuscgmlb: To echo some the comments already posted. PQS qualifier for BO/BTM, weapons and less than lethal trainer. Serve as unit SAI, PMS weapons and possibly Pyro ( free up some R&S time ), ATR's, provide training and liason with tenent commands. Serve as the single POC with the Sector/Groups for all Weps PO items. Possibly assist the TPO with TMT enteries of all LE/WEPS quals. The list goes on. I think this will set up BM's for success in EPQ's for weps when they head to unit without a GM and someone hands them WEPS the will be able to shine. Just my opinion of course.
Having GM's at a station would be amazing. To me it would seem like for once the Coast Guard would let people do there jobs. Not expecting BM's to do BM jobs as well as SK, YN and GM jobs. Just my humble opinion.
I was WEPO for nearly a year without any GM's. I was only a BM3 at the time. Show's how much my command paid attention to any COMDINST manuals! Anyway, once we got a GM finally, it became a load of my shoulders, and I wouldn't ever want to go to another unit without one.
I have been a wepo,SAI,BO,Coxn,OOD at a station. Weapons training and care can be done by a BM or GM, Problems happen when members in the BM rating think weapons (PQS,Maintenance,Training,etc)is not important to station operations. It's not that a GM or BM can do it better, it's the effort that person wants to put forth. A rusty weapon coming from a armory is unacceptable no matter who is in charge.
The problem is not just relegated to training and pms. My experience with Weapons Petty Officers usually centered around a complete lack of understanding and usually resistance to anything admin related. PMS might have been getting done, although I found that at many stations it was done improperly or not to required standard, and when most were queried as to where the required maintenance plans and logs were they could not produce either. Most had no clue as to what was required by the book. Now you can sit there and tell me that you had it all down and maybe you did but you'd be the exception to my experience. BZ to you if you did all that while also pulling duty. Just so this is not misconstrued as a BM/GM bashing I like the idea of a GM at the stations if he is utilized so as to relieve those who are BO/BTM, Cox'n, Boat Crew etc from the collateral of Weps PO.
quote:
Originally posted by 59cummings: I have been a wepo,SAI,BO,Coxn,OOD at a station. Weapons training and care can be done by a BM or GM, Problems happen when members in the BM rating think weapons (PQS,Maintenance,Training,etc)is not important to station operations. It's not that a GM or BM can do it better, it's the effort that person wants to put forth. A rusty weapon coming from a armory is unacceptable no matter who is in charge.
I agree with you, especially resistance to anything admin. I'm not here to toot my own horn. But on the same token this information is not hard to come by. Usually the sector armory staff is more than happy to give assistance "the choice is to ask". I'm certain there are some BM's are doing things the right way.
I totally agree with BoatswainsMate4Life. It will be great to free up a critical BM2 position with a GM to allow him to do his job. In addition a GM should be trained to do the job right. I'm at one of the units that should get a GM2 and our weapon allowance is huge and now with the non lethal ammo the WEPO is a full-time job, so looking forward to having a GM onboard.
I f I had a GM at my station I would require him to be a weapons petty officer first. Then watch and at least BTM. Coxn/crew would be by his choice. I think the CG needs to have GM's on stations I was wepo at two stations and two 82's and my weapons program was almost perfect. At a station or a cutter every one needs to be crossed trained it does not mean dogged which is what has happened to the BM's for years. Let the resident experts do there job.
If you had a GM at your station you wouldn't need a Weapons Petty Officer.
From the Ord Manual E. Weapons Petty Officers.
A Weapons Petty Officer shall be designated by the Commanding Officer or Officer-In- Charge for all units without a Gunners Mate assigned. The Weapons Petty Officers shall be certified per Chapter 2.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: CHGuns,
What would a GM do at a station? What does a MK do? BM? Every rating has its own technical requirements, and resposibiities and duties associated with it. Add to that all of the responsibiities you have at a station without regard to rating and/or rate. BTM, BO, Crew, Engineer, Coxswain, OOD..... A GM would need to do at least what is expected of any person at a station, yet be constrained only by their own initative and energy. How about a few GM Coxswains? Would that not be cool for those of you not smart enough to be a BM in the first place?????
You know I keep hearing how friggin' smart BMs are and yet almost every time I inspected a station or a WPBs Ordnance program that had one as a Weps PO they were doing a terrible job and the constant refrain from the so called jacks of all trades was always about how it wasn't their job and why can't they have a GM do it for them so they could go drive boats.
I have asked The BM's with prior Station's at my unit and recieved many differnt responses. 
I am looking forward to any and all responses. 
Please check out this link on why I am posting this discussion. 
