| Aspects of Training - for Staff in General |
| Intro for Training Staff · Aspects of training · Training Outlines · Grading Correspondence Courses · Correspondence Course Changes · Classified/Restricted Courses |
| A private fresh out of boot camp, a recently commissioned ensign, or a Tango member in MARS might feel a little nervous at the term. A more seasoned member may take staff somewhat for granted, or not give them much thought at all. The Commandant of the Coast Guard or the President of the United States view their staff quite seriously. |
| No matter where you stand in the scheme of things all of the views boil down to one key focal point; staff members are thought of as people with training, experience, and know how. They are the ones to look to for guidance. |
| staff
anywhere are are looked to for
their expertise,
those
who hold such positions in Navy-Marine Corps MARS are no exception.
They are thought to be "the best of the best",
the ones who know how, the go-to person for help. Don't confuse "one
who knows how" with, "one who knows it all" |
| A rather
natural extension of all this is the membership holding the view
that, "if they do things a certain way it
must be right, or at least acceptable." Each of you accepted your position of responsibility because you felt you had something to contribute. You may have had other reasons too, but contributing to the successful execution of the MARS mission has to be pretty universal among all of us. |
| The best way to lead is by example. We've all heard that one. Granted, all MARS staff positions are not ones of direct leadership. Then again, the chief advisors to the President are not in direct leadership roles either, yet their duties are vitally important and people look to their examples of what is expected. |
| Regardless of how you see yourself and your staff position, you also have a leadership part to play. To be a leader you must set the best example of the right way to do things. Review your training materials. Look at NTP-8 and your Ops Guides occasionally. If you haven't looked them over in a while, you might be surprised how many things you thought you knew that were not correct. |
| It doesn't matter who your are: whether Chief MARS, a State Director, the Assistant to your director for participation, or the Commander, Naval Network and Space Command. On-going training, daily assessments of how you did things, and regular review of the regs is essential to good performance. |
| Members
look upon all
staff as examples of how to conduct business.
Don't
guess. Don't tell yourself, "This way sounds good enough to
me." As long as the job gets done" isn't good enough. It has to be, "is the job getting done right?" |
| Please look over any of the other material in this training site. Review any courses you want. You may even find something new you would like to study. Go for it! While you're at it, check out the staff training courses. They are required for all new staff and highly recommended even for those who have been doing it a while. |
| Perhaps it's been many more days than you care to count since your Trial Service period. Never-the-less, don't be shy about taking the MARS Operator Course (MOC, which replaced the MCI) again, perhaps for the first time since their have been so many changes. |
| If you have questions talk to your training staff and your directors. If they don't have the answers I bet they know where to find it. If your stuck, drop me a note. |
| Be proud of that staff call sign you hold! |
| One final note, for area directors in particular: |
| It is by no means a requirement, but it is highly recommended that the member selected to serve as the area FOUR will have attained the rating of NMO Chief, or higher. This is recommended because the area FOUR will have copies of the NMO courses answer keys, thus posing a potential conflict. |