Post-deployment, re-deployment

[Pusser]

Sea Duty Allowance?

Time off definitely needs to be put out there though. CA goes 365 DAG red if you're deploying over a certain timeframe, and I've heard waivers being constantly declined in the later years of Afg to manage pers tempo.

The trouble with SDA is that you don't actually have to go to sea in order to get it.  As long as you're posted to a ship, you draw SDA, even if you're landed.  Even more inequitable is the case of personnel posted to standard readiness ships compared to high readiness.  The ship's company of a very busy ship receives the same SDA as one that spend most of its time alongside.  The poor sap who really gets screwed is the one who keeps getting pierhead jumped from ship to another and spends 300+ days away per year, but he would receive the same SDA as the guy posted to a ship that is broken down and alongside for nine out of 12 months.

Years ago, I actually wrote a paper recommending that SDA should be paid out in the same manner as Field Operations Allowance (FOA) was (i.e. only paid for actual days at sea).  In this way, it would have been a true incentive for sea duty (which is what it's supposed to be) as the only way to get it would be to go to sea.  Those who went to sea a lot, would get a lot and those who didn't, wouldn't.  One of the criticisms of my idea was that keeping track of sea-days would be overly difficult.  At the time, I pointed out that if we could track every hour that aircrew spend flying, surely we could keep track of every day a person spent at sea without too much difficulty?  Ironically, we now have to do that anyway in order to award the Sea Service Insignia (SSI).  in another twist of fate, FOA disappeared and was replaced with LDA, with which we are having similar problems to those already identified with SDA...

 

[PuckChaser]

The trouble with SDA is that you don't actually have to go to sea in order to get it.  As long as you're posted to a ship, you draw SDA, even if you're landed.  Even more inequitable is the case of personnel posted to standard readiness ships compared to high readiness.  The ship's company of a very busy ship receives the same SDA as one that spend most of its time alongside.  The poor sap who really gets screwed is the one who keeps getting pierhead jumped from ship to another and spends 300+ days away per year, but he would receive the same SDA as the guy posted to a ship that is broken down and alongside for nine out of 12 months.

That sounds more like a pers management issue than an allowance issue. If the same guys are always going to sea, and there's people hiding/not getting a chance, its time for some non-geo postings to sort it out.

 

[Halifax Tar]

The ship's company of a very busy ship receives the same SDA as one that spend most of its time alongside.  The poor sap who really gets screwed is the one who keeps getting pierhead jumped from ship to another and spends 300+ days away per year, but he would receive the same SDA as the guy posted to a ship that is broken down and alongside for nine out of 12 months.

This is 100% not the issue.  No one bemoans a low readiness ship for getting the same levels of sea pay as a high readiness ship because it usually runs and in a cycle, we all have up times and down times. 

The only time I would say take sea pay away from someone posted to a sea going billet is if they become unfit sea.  If you cant sail you shouldn't get sea pay.

What needs to be monitored is the days our ships are spending at sea and the distribution of those days over the entirety of the fleet pers.  Motivate or release the unfit/unwilling and rest those who have been overburdened at all possible times. 

 

[Izzie_air]

Okay, so I've been digging around and found a NAVGEN that was released on the 21st of Nov. titled "RCN PERSONNEL TEMPO". It's not online yet but as soon as it is, I will post it here.  It is aimed directly at the point of this post.

 

[Izzie_air]

Well, here it is. It came out on the 21st of Nov.  Not really sure what to do with it though. I wonder if it will be implemented in the near future or if it's just words on paper for now. I guess we'll see...

"NDHQ C NAVY OTTAWA
NAVGEN 035/16
UNCLAS RCN 045/16
SIC WAC
SUBJ: RCN PERSONNEL TEMPO
1. UNDERSTANDING THE TEMPO OF OUR PERSONNEL IS CRITICAL TO OUR
COLLECTIVE SUCCESS AS THE NATION S FIRST RESPONDERS TO ENSURE THAT
WE ARE IN ALL RESPECTS READY AYE READY TO EXECUTE MISSIONS ASSIGNED
BY THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA. TO THIS END, LEADERSHIP WILL NOW
IDENTIFY THOSE PERSONNEL IN SEA GOING POSITIONS WHO ARE NOT
ACHIEVING 90 DAYS AT SEA IN A TWELVE MONTH PERIOD AND IDENTIFY
OPPORTUNITIES FOR THEM TO MAINTAIN THEIR SKILLS. AT THE OTHER END OF
THE SPECTRUM, LEADERSHIP WILL ALSO TRACK THE NUMBER OF DAYS OUR
PERSONNEL ARE AWAY FROM THEIR FAMILIES. FOR THOSE PERSONNEL WHO WILL
DEPLOY FOR MORE THAN 180 DAYS OVER A TWELVE MONTH PERIOD, FLAG
OFFICER OVERSIGHT WILL BE REQUIRED
2. PERSONNEL TEMPO IS NOT ONLY ABOUT DAYS DEPLOYED AWAY FROM HOME,
IT IS ALSO ABOUT OUR SAILOR S CONFIDENCE IN THE CERTAINTY OF THEIR
SHIP S PROGRAM. HAVING CONFIDENCE IN THE PROGRAM ALLOWS OUR SAILORS
AND THEIR LOVED ONES TO MAKE FAMILY PLANS. THE LEADERSHIP HAVE
THEREFORE RANGED OUT IN PLANNING THE OPERATIONAL SCHEDULE AND
DE-CLASSIFIED IT TO BETTER ENABLE FAMILIES TO PLAN
3. THE PERSONNEL COORDINATION CENTERS (PCC) WILL ALSO TRACK ATTACH
POSTINGS OR QUOTE PIER HEAD JUMPS UNQUOTE. THIS INITIATIVE WILL
ENSURE LEADERSHIP HAVE AWARENESS AND UNDERSTANDING OF PERSONNEL WHO
ARE BEING DEPLOYED AT SHORT NOTICE AND/OR REPEATEDLY. IT IS
RECOGNIZED THAT THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF ATTACH POSTINGS. THOSE THAT
FACILITATE TRAINING AND PERSONNEL KEEN TO DEPLOY AND THOSE WHERE
SAILORS ARE DEPLOYED AT SHORT NOTICE OR AGAINST THEIR PREFERENCE.
THE GOAL WILL BE TO REDUCE ATTACHED POSTINGS WHERE SAILORS ARE
DEPLOYED AT SHORT NOTICE OR AGAINST THEIR PREFERENCE
4. THE RCN IS ALSO LOOKING AT ADDITIONAL INITIATIVES, WHICH WILL
REDUCE PIER HEAD JUMPS. FOR EXAMPLE, THE CREWING MODELS FOR ORCAS
AND MCDVS WILL BE OPTIMIZED WITH A VIEW TO REDUCE THE ATTACH POSTING
REQUIREMENTS. THE TRAINING SYSTEM IS ALSO OPTIMIZING CAREER COURSING
TO ENSURE THAT A SAILOR S TIME AWAY FROM THEIR SHIP AND FAMILY IS
MINIMIZED, FURTHER REDUCING THE REQUIREMENT FOR ATTACH POSTINGS
5. THESE INITIATIVES WILL BE IMPLEMENTED OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL
MONTHS AND CONTINUOUSLY AMENDED AND MONITORED OVER THE NEXT YEARS.
IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT AS WE GAIN BETTER INSIGHTS INTO THEIR SECOND
AND THIRD ORDER EFFECTS, WE WILL MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO ENSURE THAT
THAT THEY CONTINUE TO REFLECT LEADERSHIP S COMMITMENT TO QUOTE
PEOPLE FIRST, MISSION ALWAYS UNQUOTE"