Guest Post from VADM Cliff Pearson, Chief of Staff.
Shipmates,
Today, I had the pleasure of joining ADM Allen in participating in the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Personnel Service Center (PSC), which is located in the Ballston Office Complex, in Arlington, VA. This event marked the last in a series of five new mission support entities stood-up this spring in support of the Coast Guard’s Modernization efforts.
Establishment of the PSC marks the first time in Coast Guard history where all personnel and human resource support will be unified into a single business line allowing for a Human Resource system that is flexible and responsive to rapidly changing personnel requirements. Sustaining and developing our people is a priority of mine, and the creation of the Personnel Service Center is a critical part of the modernization effort. Well equipped and well running platforms, facilities, and electronics are critical to the mission, but none of our missions can happen without the right people in the right places with the right skill sets and the optimal support systems. The PSC will integrate all of these aspects.
The PSC is commanded by Rear Admiral Daniel Neptun, who has more than three decades of experience in operational and support roles with the Coast Guard. After enlisting in 1974 and earning his Surfman designation, he rose through the ranks to serve in a variety of West Coast, East Coast, Caribbean, Great Lakes, and Gulf assignments. Some assignments directly related his new role include Executive Officer at the Integrated Support Command (ISC) in Miami, FL; Chief of the Enlisted Personnel Division at the Coast Guard Personnel Command, and the Coast Guard’s Director of Personnel Management. His full biography is available from the new PSC web site.
The PSC is comprised of over 1,685 active duty and 165 reserve members, 573 civilian employees, plus over 1800 Non-Appropriated Funds employees stationed from Guam to San Juan to provide human resource services in support of CG missions. It will be composed of four functional divisions in Arlington, VA and 17 subordinate personnel commands, including: the Pay and Personnel Center in Topeka, KS, the Health Safety and Work-life Support Activity Command in Norfolk, VA, the Community Services Command in Chesapeake, VA, the Coast Guard Recruiting Command also in Arlington, VA, and 13 Personnel Service and Support Units across the United States.
Some of the primary functions of the PSC will include:
· Recruit quality people for the Service; manage their career paths and assist in their growth; and provide the Coast Guard a sustaining workforce;
· Serve as the primary implementation arms of all administrative functions including execution of entitlements including service line management for Servicing Personnel Offices;
· Provide for timely, accurate, and accountable pay and entitlement processing for over 45,500 active-duty and 8,000 reserve personnel, and retirement payments for over 50,000 retirees;
· Provide unified medical services, work-life programs and Tricare coordination to ensure a comprehensive system of care to Coast Guard members and their families; and,
· Bring together quality-of-life services of military housing, MWR, and the Coast Guard Exchange System to provide critical support and benefits to Service members and their families.
Officer, Enlisted and Reserve Personnel Management Divisions serve as the line managers for all Service members, career paths management, promotion, advancement, evaluation, and assignments, ensuring operational units have qualified members to meet mission requirements.
The Shore Infrastructure Logistics Center, C4IT Service Center, Surface Forces Logistics Center, Asset Project Office, and Aviation Logistics Center along with the Personnel Service Center will unify logistics and service support enterprise-wide, forming the backbone of our improved mission support organization. In the future these logistics and services centers will embody the following four cornerstones of the proven Coast Guard logistics business model: Bi-level Maintenance, Configuration Management, Single point of accountability through Product Line Managers, and Total Asset Visibility. By modernizing our business processes and organizational design, we will help to ensure the Coast Guard meets our call to be "Always Ready."
Please visit our modernization website for more details.
