National Security Cutter Crewing
“The Crew Rotation Concept maximizes use of Deepwater cutters while balancing work-life concerns. It is key to enabling Coast Guard operational forces to perform more effectively and efficiently.” – Rear Adm. Gary Blore, Program Executive Officer
In late February 2006, the Coast Guard introduced the Crew Rotation Concept (CRC) for major cutters, with the signing of the decision memorandum by Vice Adm. Terry Cross. The multi-crew concept, a formidable paradigm shift in cutter crewing, seeks to maximize cutters’ time at sea while sustaining an acceptable personnel tempo (PERSTEMPO) for cutter crews.
Initially, the Coast Guard will employ four crews for three NSCs at a single homeport, rotating the cutters among the crews to limit crew PERSTEMPO to 185 days while maintaining each cutter's operational tempo (OPTEMPO) at 230 days. The three-cutter, four-crew prototype will be evaluated in 2009 through an operational testing-and-evaluation process. Policy and procedures for CRC are based on the lessons learned by the Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy, as well as consideration of the recommendations made by auditors from the Government Accountability Office.
“For the entire history of the Coast Guard, if you think about it, we have assigned crews to ships,” said Rear Adm. Ken Venuto, assistant commandant for human resources. “In a way, this gave the impression that the ship is the most important contributor to mission performance, and people are there to support it. I think we know better than that today; people perform the Coast Guard's missions, and their assets are there to support them. In my view, the Crew Rotation Concept is a model that assigns ships to crews instead of crews to ships. And it's about time.”
Coast Guard Area staffs will assign cutters to crews based on cutter availability, crew PERSTEMPO, and operational demands. A crew will typically have a six- to nine-month tour and will conduct both underway and in-port periods until PERSTEMPO requires a crew swap out.
The exact doctrine and policy for the CRC turnover will be fully developed prior to the first crew swap out by a working group composed of representatives from various directorates at Coast Guard Headquarters and staff assigned to Area Commanders, Maintenance and Logistics Command, and “plank owners” from the first crews that will operate the NSCs.
At any given time, one crew will have full responsibility for cutter operations and maintenance, underway and in port. Although none of the crews will permanently “own” a specific hull, a crew will operate and maintain its assigned cutter until such time that they are swapped out to maintain the crew PERSTEMPO cap. For periods when crews rotate off a cutter, they are considered “offcycle.” The actual rotation cycle will vary from port to port and year to year based on the crew and cutter allocations as well as operational demands.
When off-cycle the crew will have a better opportunity to focus on readiness, including opportunities for leave, medical issues, and training. Additionally, the off-cycle crew provides the capacity to augment in-port cutters to conduct maintenance.
“The Crew Rotation Concept maximizes use of Deepwater cutters while balancing work-life concerns. It is key to enabling Coast Guard operational forces to perform more effectively and efficiently.” – Rear Adm. Gary Blore, Program Executive Officer