SILVERDALE, Wash. – Senior representatives from Bangor-area commands kicked off a working group July 1 to look at ways to effectively lower the number of Sailors who become an Unplanned Loss (UPL) for the submarine community.
Unplanned losses of personnel have shown an increase in recent months which hurts the overall mission readiness for Bangor-based ballistic missile, guided missile and fast-attack submarines.
“The loss of even one member of a crew can have a significant ripple effect on a submarine, especially when it’s someone who holds unique qualifications” said Rear Adm. Dave Kriete, commander, Submarine Group Nine and Flag Champion for the group. “In many cases, that means we either pull someone from another crew or we end up with a deficit in skills. Neither of those stopgap solutions is ideal.”
The working group’s Executive Steering Committee will meet monthly and report regularly to the Flag Champion. Membership is comprised of senior leaders from Submarine Group Nine and its subordinate commands, Naval Hospital Bremerton, Trident Training Facility, and Submarine Development Squadron 5.
A separate working group that includes Command Master Chiefs will also meet regularly and contribute to the overall coordinated effort. The overall goal is to identify ideas that can improve Sailors resilience, operational stress control, quality of life, and health.
Unplanned losses can occur for a variety of reasons. The categorical areas for UPL that will be analyzed by the working group are medical, psychological, disciplinary, administrative, drugs, alcohol, and Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) removal.
Commander, Submarine Group Nine oversees Ohio-Class submarine operations in the Pacific Northwest and includes Submarine Squadron 17 with eight ballistic missile submarines and Submarine Squadron 19 with two guided missile submarines.
Date Taken: | 07.08.2015 |
Date Posted: | 07.08.2015 12:59 |
Story ID: | 169398 |
Location: | BANGOR, WASHINGTON, US |
Web Views: | 560 |
Downloads: | 1 |
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