Photo By Joel Diller | Machinist Mate 2nd Class Willis Browning fills out a command duty officer evaluation...... read more read more
An aircraft incident occurs on the airfield. A ship’s schedule changes at the last minute. A distinguished visitor arrives unannounced. A traffic accident occurs out in town. A storm causes a power outage. Decisions on how to react to emergencies, incidents, and personnel issues such as these must be made quickly to mitigate the risk to the command’s personnel and mission – and they can occur at
any time – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Whether on a Navy installation or ship, commanding officers train their leaders to make some of these decisions on their behalf. The watchbill, or duty schedule, ensures the CO always has a direct representative on duty. That representative is the command duty officer.
"The command duty officer is entrusted by the CO to carry out routine tasks and take required action during emergencies while they are standing duty," said Cdr. Josh Jones, operations officer and senior watch officer. "Which is why we require prospective CDOs to understand the installation and know what to do in situations
before they're put on the watchbill."
At NSA Souda Bay, the junior officers, warrant officers, and chief petty officers who are permanently stationed at the installation are required to fulfill the CDO job qualification requirements and be added to the watchbill. Exceptional first class petty officers may be approved in some cases.
Jones said that to be a CDO, a Sailor must show an understanding of all the installation's instructions, shadow a CDO while on duty three times, pass an oral board comprised of qualified CDOs and subject matter experts, and interview with the commanding officer.
"A chief or an officer has likely stood duty many times before at other duty stations, and that experience is valuable, but Souda Bay is a unique location – there are a lot of operations here that are specific only to Souda Bay," said Jones. "We're not only a forward operating base in Greece, we also have both air and port operations, which means there are a lot of moving
pieces to manage during a daily watch as CDO."
In addition to responding during emergencies, CDOs also perform routine checks on the installation, from ensuring the dishwasher in the Galley is operating at the required temperature to ensuring good order and discipline is being maintained in the barracks. To help with these responsibilities, an assistant command duty officer position, filled by a first or second class petty
officer, is on the watchbill.
The following is what a typical day in the life of a CDO might look like:
7:15 a.m. – Turnover
A CDO’s duty begins at the quarterdeck, which on a ship is the raised deck behind the main mast, but on this Navy installation it is located at the entrance to the Command Administration building, known as Building 1. This is the CDO’s work center and where the on-coming CDO receives a pass down of information from the off-going CDO.
Chief Boatswain’s Mate Passion Richmond, this day’s command duty officer, said: “What we do is we just talk about the events that happened the night prior – things to expect within the next 24 hours ... things to keep on your radar throughout the day.”
Richmond said the pass down between CDOs includes everything from the inbound and outbound traffic of visiting aircraft and ships, communications systems issues, distinguished visitors on the installation, and whether there are any Sailors on restriction or liberty risk.
The ACDOs also do their own turnover at the same time, which includes taking inventory of the Tipsy Taxi program’s money, inspecting the color guard’s uniforms and ensuring the Greek and American flags are in good condition.
“We normally talk about which roles we’re going to take,” said Richmond. “To alternate to help each other during the day – who’s going to do the meal sampling?” On this day, Richmond asks Machinist Mate 2nd Class Willis Browning, the day’s assistant command duty officer, if he can sample the lunch meal at the Galley, which he confirms that he can. “Basically our responsibility is to assist the CDO as much as possible,” said Browning.
The CDO is also a point of contact for the command from outside organizations such as the Regional Operations Center, American Red Cross, or visiting ships and aircraft. At turnover the CDO logs in to the various communications systems so they can check message traffic throughout their shift and take action if a message needs leadership’s attention.
8 a.m. – Observe Colors
The ACDO has the responsibility to ensure the Greek and American national anthems are played during Colors. At about 10 minutes before 8 a.m., Browning loads a disk into a CD drive which will play the anthems over the installation’s public address system.
Once the color guard is in formation in front of Building 1, the CDO and ADCO march out in front of the building to salute as the flags are raised.
8:30 a.m. – Brief Commanding Officer
As the CO’s direct representative, the CDO meets with the CO in his office to brief the items discussed with the off-going CDO during turnover and to talk about the day’s important events.
“We brief the CO, XO, command master chief, and also the operations officer,” said Richmond. “We ask them if there is anything that we missed in regard to what’s expected or if anyone wasn’t in the loop.”
9:30 a.m. – Walk the base
The CDO’s responsibility is also to rove the base and look for things out of the ordinary. During the walk, the CDO visits the Emergency Dispatch center, walks along the fencelines and checks in with the sentries posted at the gates.
11 a.m. – Sample lunch at the Galley
When a CDO samples a meal at the Galley, they rate the overall presentation, such as the customer service, cleanliness, food quality and temperature. The CDO also makes sure the dishwashing machine cleans dishes at the correct temperature.
Browning enters the Galley and receives a meal evaluation form from the Galley staff and passes
through the line to sample the lunch menu. After the meal, Browning dons a hair cap and proceeds to the dish room where he records the temperatures displayed on the commercial dishwashing machine.
2 p.m. – Report to Emergency Operations
Center during exercise
On this day, the Installation Training Team held an installation-wide exercise that required the activation of the Emergency Operations Center, where the CDO plays an important role as part of the incident management team.
Master-at-Arms 1st Class Megan Moore, a CDO qualified first class petty officer, participated in the exercise in the role of the CDO. Moore said that the CDO is a messenger who receives information from the Emergency Dispatch operators and channels it to the EOC members. The CDO also acts as a recorder by keeping critical information up to date on the situation board.
4:30 p.m. – Muster restricted personnel
From time to time, there are Sailors on the installation who have been put in a restricted status for disciplinary action. Richmond said that if there are any personnel who are in a restricted status, they are required to meet with the CDO at the quarterdeck and receive any extra duty assignments.
5 p.m. – Sample dinner at the Galley
5:30 p.m. – Evening rove of the base
Richmond said that during the evening rove the CDO visits the all-hands club – Shipmates – and walks through the barracks. The CDO is on the lookout for inappropriate behavior, disturbances, and people smoking in non-designated smoking areas.
6 to 8 p.m. – Restricted personnel room inspection and muster
The CDO is required to check in again with the restricted personnel, once in their assigned barracks room and again at the quarterdeck.
“[The restricted muster] is in the uniform of choice for the CDO. You inspect their uniform and you also inspect the cleanliness of their room,” said Richmond. “At 2000 that specific person is required to muster at the quarterdeck just to say ‘Hey, I’m onboard. I’m here.’”
Late evening – Retire to CDO quarters
Once the CDO completes all the checklist items for the day, they go to the dedicated room in the barracks where they will spend the night.
| Date Taken: | 01.30.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 07.08.2020 06:38 |
| Story ID: | 373517 |
| Location: | GR |
| Web Views: | 595 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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