Soundings

The senior leadership of the Auxiliary and Coast Guard from every District, taking advantage of its central location, meet at this time every year in St. Louis. The general board meeting is the culmination of week-long meetings and planning sessions.

National Commodore Gene Seibert opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, an invocation by Allan Brown, VCO D7, and a moment of silence for our departed members and those that are standing the watch at home and abroad.

NACO Seibert introduced the National Bridge and special guests. Noting that a quorum was present NACO Seibert welcomed all to the National Training (N-Train) Conference 2006. "In the spirit of accountability to the dedicated people who make up the Coast Guard Auxiliary membership and their responsibility for the public trust, the theme of this years N-Train is People First," he said.

"No other volunteer organization in the world attracts people with talent and dedication as does the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Selfless service and devotion to duty characterize the average Auxiliarist," said Seibert.

"This dedication must be mirrored by Coast Guard Auxiliary leadership, and therefore, we must provide our members the training and tools needed for our evolving missions," he said.

In his opening remarks and report NACO Seibert again commended the Auxiliary for their dedication to our missions and he recognized the Auxiliarist's sacrifices to invest the effort to truly make a difference.

At a recent meeting of the U.S. Power Squadron, among the many questions asked, NACO Seibert admitted that he was caught slightly off guard when asked, "Who owns the Coast Guard Auxiliary?"

He responded by categorically breaking down the ownership thusly; by charter we are owned by Congress; by law and the Coast Guard Auxiliary Authorization Act we are owned by the Coast Guard; and finally, and most importantly, since we can't do anything with out them, each and every flotilla member. "That is why we can not lose sight of the importance that we must always put our people first, the theme of this year's conference," said Seibert.

Rapt attention

He also stated, "The power doesn't reside in the leaders and managers-it resides in the individual volunteers. And unlike the Coast Guard, we can't require our volunteers to do anything. We don't have an actual hold on them unless they accept our leadership. We can only request - we can only ask. And I know we certainly ask a lot." "Keep them first in all that you do," he said.

He said that the Strategic Plan for 2006-2007 was updated to meet the needs of our members. He stressed the four major initiatives of the plan; balancing and blending missions and resources; revitalize and reemphasize the importance or recreational boating safety (RBS) both internally and externally; recruitment and retention; and collaborative strategic planning. "Each are important in its own right, but all are interconnected and needed to be integrated into a system solution of sorts. Each feed off the other parts," he said.

He said that our intended course was and continues to be a balanced effort between maritime safety and maritime security. A balanced blend of the two is the ultimate objective for the Auxiliary. He indicated that if this balance slipped we will limit our membership. "If we are viewed by the public, and by potential and existing members, as an organization that promotes both safety and security, and consciously works to balance those missions, then we will attract and retain a wider diversity of skilled members."

"Our RBS missions are critical to the Auxiliary because they save lives and sustain our presence in the boating community," he said.

NACO Seibert applauded the efforts of the District Commodores and Vice Commodores for developing their district's strategic business plans in 2005. He also commended the Department Chiefs for crafting their operational plans based on the shared vision of moving forward.

Asking all to learn the lessons of the recent hurricane disasters and give added consideration to developing their contingency plans. "Planning for a contingency is the foundation of our readiness," said Seibert.

NACO Seibert then introduced the session's keynote speaker, Rear Admiral Sally Brice O'Hara. RADM Brice-O'Hara is the Coast Guard's Director of Reserve and Training. In his introduction he commented, "Rear Admiral Brice O'Hara is known to many of us as a true friend of the Auxiliary."

"Let me start by expressing my appreciation and gratitude for your remarkable response during Hurricane Katrina. What a testament to your high level of readiness and unwavering endurance. Despite great personal loss and hardship, you focused on rapid rescue and sustained recovery to help stabilize the ruined region and its people," she said.

"Extraordinary readiness, when combined with capable leadership, yields excellent outcomes," she added.

Her message was two-fold, that of the important role of the Auxiliary in support of the instructional programs at the Coast Guard training centers and secondly, the 21st century technologies that present to us challenges and opportunities.

In the Auxiliary's support of the training centers she pointed out the Auxiliary's efforts at the Coast Guard Academy, and at training centers Cape May, Yorktown and Petaluma.

As an example she cited at Yorktown, "When five named tropical weather systems delayed the reinstallation of the permanent platforms at Charleston, the Auxiliary 'turned to.' They provided five platforms (vessels) over the course of four months, to train boarding officer students. Commander Espanoza, the commanding officer, acknowledges that without the Auxiliary, it would have been impossible to provide his students realistic, performance-based training."

She mentioned an article recently written in the Training Department's newsletter, "The Art of Mentoring." She, coincidentally, released an "All Coast Guard" message announcing a new web-based program that facilitates the matching and monitoring of mentoring partnerships, a program open to all members of the Coast Guard. The program serves both the mentor and mentee.

She also mentioned other on line resources including "SkillSoft," which offers more than 1500 commercial on-line courses in a variety of information technology areas. "Every one of those 1500 courses is open to Auxiliarists," said Brice-O'Hara.

Introduced after last year's N-Train was the Unit Leadership Development Program, "an on-line system that contains hundreds of tools designed to improve workgroup leadership and followership," she said.

She stressed the importance of continuing and furthering eLearning in the Auxiliary. She knows that there are obstacles, not all members of the Auxiliary have access to high speed Internet connections; therefore, two different formats are being developed, to provide both high and low bandwidth options.

In closing RADM Brice-O'Hara requested that we try to achieve as close to 100% of the quota that are allowed for our classroom training. "Training dollars are increasingly scarce and competition for them is high," she said. Filling the classrooms will optimize the dollars spent and the training offered.

"Let me emphasize that we are nothing without our most valued resource, our women and men, our men and women. People are first. Semper Paratus," she concluded.

The next speaker was RADM Craig Bone, Director of the Inspection and Compliance Directorate. In that position he oversees the Offices of Boating Safety, Auxiliary, vessel activities, port and facility activities. He recently served as the Director of Port Security. He spoke on Auxiliary leadership and management issues.

The Coast Guard Chief of Human Resource Strategy and Capability, Dr. Steven Wehrenberg then made a special presentation on the subject of "System Thinking."

Captain Barry Smith, Chief Director of Auxiliary, then emceed the presentation of awards to Auxiliarists. These are covered in a separate SITREP article.

A signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the Coast Guard Auxiliary Association, Inc. and the "Soundings" publication followed. Mr. Chris Buydos, Soundings manager of Consumer Marketing joined NACO Seibert for the signing ceremony.

The memorandum will allow, among other provisions, for:

• Issuing press releases and/or publishing articles, as appropriate in their respective publications and web sites.
• Publishing articles which promote the Auxiliary membership, programs and opportunities.
• Authorize the magazine to publish the "Auxiliary Directory of Services" for the information of its readership.
• Offer both discounted and free annual subscriptions to members of the Association upon their request.
• Provide the opportunity for Auxiliary Publication Officers to have their course listings published in the applicable regional edition of the "Soundings" magazine calendar.

Following a short break the Committee of the Whole convened to discuss Auxiliary business, Reports from the Auxiliary's senior leadership were presented. These reports were followed by presentations on "Contingency Planning" by Linda Nelson, Department Chief, Operations and a presentation on "Land Patrols" by David Hand, Department Chief, Marine Safety and Environmental Protection.

Following lunch, the afternoon session convened and a roll call attested to the presence of a quorum.

Ms. Kathy O'Pezio of the Security Center (SECCEN) made a presentation on the "Personnel Security Process." A question and answer period followed. Generally, the program is following the predetermined schedule with no specific problems slowing it down.

After a mentoring presentation by CWO Kenneth King, Auxiliarist David Engel described a new, proposed National Auxiliarist of the Year award for the membership. No date has been specifically set for a roll out of the details of this new program.

NCOS Carol Urgola

NADCO introduced, thanked and presented gifts to the outgoing District Directors of Auxiliary. They included CAPT Greg Haack (D11-SR); CDR Jean Clark (D8-ER); CDR Stephen Wheeler (D11-NR); and LCDR Sue Albright (D17).

NADCO Seibert then recognized and thanked the outgoing Headquarters staff and District Operational Training Officers (OTO).

ARCO-A(W) Kenneth Koeppen made a presentation on the Gulf Coast disaster and the Auxiliary's response.

Captain Jean Butler, Acting Deputy Director of Personnel Management bestowed a Diversity award (separate SITREP article) and presented a video "F.A.I.R." on the subject of diversity.

Captain Barry Smith, Chief Director of Auxiliary then emceed the presentation of Team Commendation awards (covered in a separate SITREP article).

NCOS Carol Urgola made the last presentation of the day, "Professional Development."