20 JUL 2022 FM: CHDIRAUX TO: ALAUX ALAUX 023/22 Subj: CHIEF DIRECTOR FINAL ACTION ON NATIONAL BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS AT NTRAIN 2022 At the 2022 Auxiliary National Training Conference (NTRAIN) in St. Louis, MO in March, the following recommendations were placed before the National Board. They are summarized, with the Chief Director’s final actions, below: 1. Recommendation: Create the “G” Directorate for Auxiliary Chaplain Support (Originator: NACO, COMO Al Malewski / Date: 01 Jun 21). a. Discussion: Create the “G” Directorate within Auxiliary national FORCECOM for the management and direction of the concerns, plans, strategies, operations, doctrine, and policies of the Auxiliary Chaplain Support (ACS) program under the supervision of the National Commodore (NACO) through its Directorate Chief (DIR) who shall report directly to the Vice National Commodore (VNACO). The “G” Directorate, by and through its DIR-G, shall maintain close, frequent and direct liaison with the Chaplain of the Coast Guard (CG-00A). Since inception of the ACS program, it has rapidly expanded to provide vital services and support to the CG family as well as to the public in times of crisis. As the program has grown, the need for structure, well-defined leadership, management, recruiting, operational span of control, and succession planning has become evident. The creation of this Directorate will accomplish those objectives while demonstrating clearly and unequivocally that Auxiliary senior leaders understand the program’s incalculable value. The Directorate shall be organized as provided by the Auxiliary Manual and include the following officers whose responsibilities, numbers, and office designations may be modified as deemed appropriate: one Director (DIR-G, 4 stripes); one Deputy Director (DIR-Gd, 3 stripes) to serve also serve as Training Officer for the ACS program; three Branch Chiefs (BC, 2.5 stripes); and one Branch Assistant for each district (BA, 2 stripes). All other ACS Chaplains wear two stripes. b. National Board action: Approved. c. Chief Director Final Action: Approved with the following adjustments: (1) Although there is clearly programmatic merit to creation of a separate ACS directorate (e.g., increasing demand and value of religious ministry support to the Coast Guard), the proposed organizational construct’s call for it to reside within Auxiliary national FORCECOM while reporting directly to VNACO is unprecedented. It is also noted that VNACO already has four Deputy National Commodores and three Assistant National Commodores reporting directly to that office, and will have an additional ANACO reporting to it as a result of another approved proposal. Accordingly, the DIR-G shall report to the Assistant National Commodore – FORCECOM. (2) The proposal does not include a Division Chief (DVC) between the DIR-Gd and the BCs and BAs. This, too, is unprecedented. The three proposed BCs, presumably one for each Auxiliary Area, may be elevated to DVC offices. A sufficient number of BC offices to manage the ACS program among the 16 Auxiliary districts and regions should then be appointed. (3) All G-Directorate staff offices shall wear office insignia in accordance with the Auxiliary Manual, COMDTINST M16790.1 (series) and the Auxiliary Chaplain Support Program, COMDTINST 1730.5 (series). 2. Recommendation: Revise Auxiliary Manual Pertaining to Safety Hats (Originator: DIR-P, Kim Cole / Date: 11 Nov 21) a. Discussion: The Auxiliary Manual specifies hard hats with green visors. These are no longer available. We are recommending the manual be updated to current OSHA standards. Per Chapter 10, page 10-19 of the Auxiliary Manual it calls for hard hats worn by the member to have the underside of the visor to be green. This has been discontinued by manufacturers several years ago and is unavailable for purchase. We are requesting this be changed, removing the line calling for the green underside of these visors. By incorporating this change we would be in accordance with both the Coast Guard and with OSHA. We also request that the qualification of Facility Inspectors and Pollution Responders be added to the list of missions that utilize the hard hats for their PPE. Both qualifications are required by the Coast Guard to wear the hard hat when required by the facilities that are being inspected. By incorporating these small changes to the Auxiliary Manual we will bring the hard hat descriptions up to OSHA standards and create so the member/Coast Guard is able to secure correct hard hats for the jobs specified. b. National Board action: Approved. c. Chief Director final action: Approved understanding that the lack of green visor availability does not warrant wholesale elimination of its current authorization for wear. Accordingly, the authorization to wear white safety hard hats with green visors remains in place until they are no longer serviceable. 3. Electronic Meeting Rules Template Change Proposal (Originator: DCO D5-NR, COMO Joe Giannattasio / Date: 05 Apr 21) a. Discussion. Revisions to the Unit (Flotilla, Division and District) electronic standing rules template as follows: (1) Remove wording “when special circumstances warrant” from Article II, paragraph A. (2) Remove paragraph B. from Article II. (3) Remove paragraph A. from Article III. The current standing rules template only allows the electronic rules in special circumstances, so it appears that routine use is not permitted. Per the direction provided in Enclosure (13) Auxiliary COVID-19 Reconstitution Guidance Version 2, paragraph E.2. as well as earlier guidance, units have been conducting online meetings. In many instances, member participation in these meetings has reportedly been greater than prior in-person only meetings. By eliminating the special circumstances wording, we are providing a means for units to routinely conduct electronic meetings with an opportunity for greater member participation. While the climate is changing and units are transitioning back to more in-person meetings, the “new” normal should recognize the realities of the virtual world in which we now operate. Note that all unit templates – flotilla, division and district – are affected. b. National Board action: Approved. c. Chief Director final action: Disapproved understanding that this proposal will be revisited in 2024 and fully anticipating that the provisions of AUX-SOP-004(A) Election of Unit Officers Through the Use of Electronic Means will be extended through 2023. (1) The value of unfettered electronic meetings has thus far been proven solely and as a direct result of a special circumstance – the COVID-19 pandemic. (2) Moreover, significant appreciation and value of in-person meetings have concurrently experienced a renaissance during the past few months as many COVID-19 restrictions have receded. The current temporary authorizations stemming from the special circumstance caused by COVID-19 should therefore remain in place through calendar year 2023 and be subject of a formal re-assessment whose results (and any accompanying proposal) will be presented to the National Board at NTRAIN 2024. 4. Creation of ANACO-AS, ANACO-AS-d, W-Directorate and O-Directorate (Originator: NACO, COMO Al Malewski / Date: 01 May 21) a. Discussion: Create the Offices of Assistant National Commodore for Administrative Services (ANACO-AS) and Deputy Assistant National Commodore for Administrative Services (ANACO-ASd) under the supervision and support of the National Commodore (NACO) through the Vice National Commodore (VNACO) to supervise and support the appropriate directorate staff officers of a Document Management Directorate (W-Directorate) and Administrative Investigations Directorate (O-Directorate). Create a Document Management Directorate (W-Directorate) and Administrative Investigations Directorate (O-Directorate) for the purposes stated below and for such other and further purposes as may from time to time be required. There presently exists no Auxiliary managed office or department for identifying, organizing, managing, storing, indexing, archiving and preserving important records, documents, or publications, of the Auxiliary and its elements. Whether reduced to hard copy or preserved by any other means, important historical, operational, and instructional, information and materials of the Auxiliary are being permanently lost, destroyed, or otherwise irretrievable. A Document Management Directorate (W-Directorate) under the supervision and support of a Director, Deputy Director, and staff reporting to the Assistant National Commodore for Administrative Services (ANACO-AS), would be responsible for those tasks and such others as may be necessary to manage the written and electronic documents and records of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Events requiring resolution of factual issues (i.e. mishaps, unusual incidents, conflicts among members, and disciplinary proceedings) occur within elements of the Auxiliary. Those events may require Auxiliary leaders to quickly and accurately obtain relevant facts not readily available. Obtaining the personnel resources required to promptly obtain those facts is often problematic. The situation may require personal interviews, and location of relevant documentation by impartial fact finders with no prior knowledge of the involved parties. The manner in which the Auxiliary conducts its fact finding can affect the Auxiliary’s ability to manage itself. Consistent principles and procedures must be followed whenever the need to resolve factual conflicts or accurately establish the facts of a situation. An effective investigatory process can also protect the interests of the Auxiliary and its members by accurately identifying areas of improvement for internal Auxiliary operations when issues requiring resolution of factual disputes arise. The O Directorate will be staffed by Auxiliarists with credentials attesting to their training, experience, skill, ability, and proficiency in conducting fair, efficient, confidential and professional investigations. Subject to budgetary and personnel resources, and consistent with all applicable guidance documents, the services of the Directorate will be available to elected leaders of the Auxiliary and Coast Guard Officers. b. National Board action: Approved. c. Chief Director final action: Approved understanding that the VNACO will now have four Deputy National Commodores and four Assistant National Commodores reporting directly to that office. Moreover, this will considerably add to the significant increase of approximately 58 percent in national staff offices that the Auxiliary has experienced since 2018. 5. Auxiliary Flight Suit Policy Recommendation (Originator: DIR-R, Roy Savoca / Date: 19 Feb 21) a. Discussion. Update the Auxiliary Manual, Section H.5., Auxiliary Flight Suit to standardize requirements for flight suits, outerwear, covers and gloves. If approved, document AV-04-2-A (Standard for Flight Suits for Auxiliary Aviation) and the HR uniform guide PowerPoint presentation will be updated for consistency. The HR Directorate, Uniform Division was advised, reviewed the recommended updates and had no comment or objection. Section H.5. of the Auxiliary Manual is out of date for flight suit standards. The Flight Standards Branch of the Response Directorate recommends removing any reference to a blue flight suit and cloth name patch. Auxiliary flight crews will all wear the sage green flight suit with a black leather name patch. Standardized lettering is specified for the black leather name patch. If adopted, this update will standardize and enhance the professional appearance of Auxiliary flight crews. Outerwear is not currently specified and needs to be standardized. The CWU-36/P (summer jacket) and CWU-45/P (winter jacket) are recommended. Additionally, the brown leather G-1 is allowed when authorized by the Air Station. The flight jackets must be constructed of NOMEX if worn during flight, otherwise they should be stowed on-board in case of emergency ditching. Black flight boots are specified. The garrison cap is still preferred. The Auxiliary ball caps remain authorized, and neither are to be worn on the flight line at the Air Station. A black watch cap is authorized and limited to wear when preparing the aircraft for flight outdoors in extreme frigid weather. The black watch cap may be carried on-board for use in case of emergency ditching but not worn during flight. Flight gloves are authorized as specified in COMDTINST M13520.1C, Coast Guard Aviation Life Support Equipment. They are to be constructed of NOMEX and sage green in color. b. National Board action: Approved. c. Chief Director final action: Approved understanding that the shift to the sage green flight suit with a black leather name patch does not warrant wholesale elimination of the current authorization to wear the blue flight suit and cloth name patch. Accordingly, the authorization to wear the blue flight suit and cloth name patch remains in place until no longer serviceable. 6. Formation of “AuxA Management LLC” to eliminate high insurance costs (Originator: NACO, COMO Al Malewski / Date: 07 Jul 21) a. Discussion: That section 5.M.1. of the Auxiliary Manual (Commandant Instruction M16790.1 series) be modified to reflect the Commandant’s approval of the organization of two corporations to support Auxiliary activities, namely: the Coast Guard Auxiliary Association, Inc. (AuxA) and another corporation be formed (AuxA Mgmt) to conduct and support AuxA’s business functions and activities, with a specific focus on expense minimization with respect to liability insurance. For the avoidance of doubt, every function and authority stays the same – the new corporation is being created in order to ensure that AuxA, and by derivation the Coast Guard Auxiliary, only pays for what it needs, nothing more nor less. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, AuxA is incorporated in the District of Columbia. As a matter of insurance industry practice, AuxA’s insurers require AuxA’s management function and activity liability insurance premiums to be based upon its total membership count, whether only one member performs AuxA’s business management functions and activities, or if the entire membership performs those functions and activities. Additionally, as a matter of District of Columbia law regarding non-profit corporations and of Coast Guard policy, membership in AuxA is directly linked to Auxiliary membership (CGAux.) This means that as long as an individual is an Auxiliarist, they must be a member of AuxA. Consequently, when based upon an AuxA membership count in the tens of thousands, the resultant insurance premium costs about $45,000 per year. The practical reality is that only about 60 AuxA members perform the AuxA business management functions and activities that require liability coverage by an insurance policy. The vast majority of AuxA members never perform AuxA business management functions and activities. These individuals are properly covered in their capacity as federal employees when they perform Auxiliary assignments to duty; they just happen to also be members of AuxA. As a consequence, AuxA must insure all 22,000 Auxiliarists because they are perforce members of AuxA. By creating a second 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation focused on performance of AuxA’s business management functions and activities, and comprised solely of the 60 AuxA members who perform them, AuxA will be able to divest itself of the unnecessary liability coverage for the other tens of thousands of its members, and only carry liability coverage necessary for the 60 members of the second 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation (AuxA Mgmt). The premium for that policy would be about $5,000, yielding a recurring annual savings to AuxA of approximately $40,000. These savings would be applied by the National Board to Auxiliary unit support across all Auxiliary districts and regions. With volunteer membership nationwide on the ebb, such savings are the equivalent of nearly 1,000 new members per year, with no additional burden on Coast Guard infrastructure (security checks, new member ID cards, and the like). AuxA senior management believes that their fiduciary duties to the Auxiliary and the wider Coast Guard enterprise compels them to implement this change. Of note, this does not require the 60 specific members to give up Auxiliary or AuxA membership. They just also be members of an authorized entity for liability insurance purposes because the duties of conducting and supporting AuxA’s business functions and activities does not assign them to duty. b. National Board action: Approved. c. Chief Director final action: Approved. In concert with AuxA’s existence, AuxA Mgmt shall be incorporated in the District of Columbia. Its organization and operations shall be prescribed by requisite Articles of Incorporation and By-laws, as amended from time to time. 7. Mandatory AuxA Membership (Originator: NACO, COMO Al Malewski / Date: 29 Nov 21) a. Discussion. Recommend that the Auxiliary Manual (COMDTINST M16790.1 (series)) and all other Auxiliary or Coast Guard documents or instructions be amended to remove any requirement that members or applicants for membership in the Coast Guard Auxiliary must also be members of Coast Guard Auxiliary Association, Inc. (AuxA). Because of the manner in which the insurance industry rates its policy holders, the AuxA will save approximately $40,000 of Auxiliary funds annually to support the missions of the Auxiliary by removing Auxiliarists from membership in the AuxA. There is no longer any need for Auxiliarists to be members of the AuxA nor is any practical purpose served by mandating that Auxiliarists maintain membership in the AuxA. No benefit of any description provided to Auxiliarists by the AuxA is dependent on membership in the AuxA. All benefits offered by or through the AuxA are dependent only upon membership in the Auxiliary, not the AuxA. b. National Board action: Approved. c. Chief Director final action: Approved. (1) AuxA membership’s direct linkage to Auxiliary membership has been a matter of Coast Guard policy that required as long as an individual was a member of the Auxiliary then they must also have been a member of AuxA. However, District of Columbia law neither compels nor prohibits all Auxiliarists to also be members of AuxA. This negates policy that directly links membership in both organizations. As further noted in National Board Recommendation 6 above, more accurate and appropriate AuxA liability insurance coverage can be achieved through proper AuxA Mgmt establishment. (2) Auxiliarists may therefore enroll and retain Auxiliary membership without concurrent AuxA membership unless they perform duties on AuxA’s behalf. Further, unless an Auxiliarist currently performs duties on behalf of AuxA they are no longer recognized as a member of AuxA. (3) The AuxA-10 Consent to Membership form is no longer required for submission as part of an Auxiliary enrollment application package unless an applicant expressly desires AuxA membership. (4) Most importantly, Auxiliary membership independent of AuxA or AuxA Mgmt membership does not divest an Auxiliarist of the privilege to shop through AuxA nor participate in AuxA Member Benefits programs. Such benefits programs remain derived from private industry’s desire to recognize Auxiliarists’ service to the Coast Guard. Concurrently, it does not void an Auxiliarist’s financial obligation to pay their Auxiliary dues, including those prescribed for national level. 8. Creation of Paddlecraft Staff Officer Positions at the District, Division, and Flotilla Levels (Originator: D8-CR DCO, COMO Patrick Feighery / Date: 18 Oct 21) a. Discussion. Authorize and establish staff-level positions at the district/region, division and flotilla levels for the paddlecraft program. COMDTINST 16794.11A established the Paddlecraft Ashore and Afloat programs of the Auxiliary on August 18, 2018. As part of that instruction, each district/region was authorized to appoint a Paddlecraft Coordinator to oversee the program within his/her respective district or region. The COMDTINST did not allow for the appointment of district, division or flotilla staff officers to oversee the program. Inasmuch as Paddlecraft Coordinator is not a staff position and therefore does not appear in an Officer Directory report, there is no clear-cut line of communication for the National Recreational Boating Safety Directorate to employ when disseminating paddlecraft safety information, providing support, quality control or coordination down chain as they have no way of knowing who to communicate with at any level of our organization. Currently there are 6 people within the RBS Directorate that have paddlecraft attached to their job designation. A robust organization exists at the National level but not down the COLM. Statistics and trends indicate significant increases in people participating in paddle sports, paddlecraft drownings and unneeded SAR cases. It is now time to devote the same amount of attention to the paddlecraft community that is already devoted to other areas of recreational boating. Implementation of this recommendation will ensure that critical information is passed to those who need it, and that responsibility for establishing, executing and maintaining the paddlecraft mission is properly defined and managed. It will also help reduce the upward trend of paddlecraft fatalities, and unnecessary SAR cases. It is anticipated that adoption of this recommendation will have zero impact on the Auxiliary’s national budget as the hierarchy already exists at the national level within the RBS Directorate. b. National Board action: Approved. c. Chief Director final action: Disapproved understanding that the need for creation of staff offices at so many organizational levels warrants additional assessment. (1) The proposal’s concern is that these staff offices are needed to ensure that critical information is passed to those who need it even though a Paddlecraft Coordinator is authorized to be assigned for program management throughout a district or region. (2) Further, nothing prohibits creation of Assistant District Staff Officers to assist with program management within a district’s or region’s operations program and its organization. With such tools available to address the concern, the proposed expansion of staff offices requires additional justification which should be achieved through a formal work group assessment. 9. Auxiliary Culinary Assistance Program Device (Originator: DIR-H, Lee Zimmerman / Date: 18 Jan 22) a. Discussion. Proposal for a device authorized for the Auxiliary Culinary Assistance Program (AUXCA) to indicate completion of the prescribed training as specified in the AUXCA SOP for the position of AUXCA-1 only. This requested vote by the National Board is for a change to USCG-AUX Uniform Regulations. This program has been authorized as an Auxiliary program for over 10 years. The design for this device was initiated by CG-BSX and the prototype was presented by Vanguard Corp (who produce most CG insignia). The device is to be worn on the left side of the blue uniform shirt/blouse/dress jacket above the ribbons/medals and other devices earned. It will be approximately the size of the AUXOP device with a back pin. The metal version is the only version created thus far and not as a sew-on version. If that design is approved, then a sew-on version would be subsequently created (in white/silver). b. National Board action: Approved. c. Chief Director final action: Approved.
Respectfully, Captain Troy P. Glendye Chief Director of Auxiliary (CG-BSX)
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