Culinary Specialist!
Good afternoon. Thanks to the Culinary Specialist program manager, Mr. Chad Adams for sending the message below. He is right! We need to take this survey. This survey is only available to each rating once every 4 to 7 years. WARNING: There are only 5 days left to fill out the Culinary Specialist Occupational Analysis Survey.
How do I take the Survey? Go to your emails and search for Survey or Occupational or Analysis and it will pop up. To kick off the release of the Culinary Specialist Occupational Analysis Survey, we brought together 7 Master Chiefs. MC Ball, MC Swenson, MC Joiner, MC Shelton, MC Reed, MC Jeffries, MC Thornton and all of the Senior Leadership Departments heads to have a round table talk at TRACEN Petaluma. During the week we celebrated the successes of 2024, talk with instructors, students, TRACEN command, visited cutters, galleys, CSA Alameda and we kicked off this new 2025 Phase of The Culinary Specialist Rating! The main focus of the round table was obtaining feedback for three things:
- #1 How our current CS TMX Initiatives are going
- #2 What do we think our CS advancement Requirements should be for Sea Time and Competencies
- #3 What Certifications, qualifications and Degrees should we give SWE points for advancement.
How can you provide feedback on these initiatives and all other thing about the Culinary Specialist rating? Initiatives such as BAS Reform, Inport Galley Closures, Leave, Vested Crew Member Program, Advanced Ed, A School Revamp, New Galley APP Paperwork system, banding E4/E5 billets and everything else on your mind?
The #1 Way is through the OA Survey that was sent to you by email. You were given an individual link, just for you, so please go to your emails and search for SURVEY or Occupational or Analysis.
Straight from FORCOM: “The purpose of the OA is to capture what currently is being done by CS’s in the field. This is vitally important! Your RFMC needs comprehensive job-related data in order to create the CS Rating Performance Qualifications (RPQs), create initial entry training for the CS rating (“A” School), validate additional training requirements (“C” Schools), and create the Service Wide Exam. This process is undertaken every four years for each rating. You know the CS rating better than anyone. You are the primary source for comprehensive job-related data. Your input is needed to guarantee that the final OA report accurately reflects what CSs are doing today.”
This chart shows where we are at on participation. 20% is not bad.. but it’s not great. Actually, it’s just bad:
Ya, not good. So let’s take some time out of these next five days and fill out the survey. At the end of the survey there will be a few spots for any other comments. All of our CS Senior Leadership will be reading the comments and results. This is the time to contribute and be heard.
——Some more Culinary Specialist updates:
State of the Rating “Live”!
We have the State of the Rating LIVE on the Facebook group November 6th Wednesday at 1500 EST – 1200 PST. Last time I talked to much. This time all CS Leadership Departments will give an update on what we are up to. We will also take questions and record the stream for all who missed it to watch later.
CS Leadership Departments and Sub Departments:
1. Program (+ FINCEN + AdvCulinary) – Mr. Adams, CWO Webb, SC Schuler, SC Bartlett
2. COSL (CSB + DLA) – Ms. Risvold, Mr. Bush, MC Ball, MC Joiner, SC Oellrich
3. A-School (+RKM + C-School) – MC Reed, MC Shelton
4. AOs (+ SCAs +EPM) – CWO Wernicke, MC Jeffries, MC Wright, SC Rohrs
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Rating Dash Board – We still don’t look great, but it is getting better. Once the Vested crew members make 3rd these number will change a bit. 109 FY25 A-School Grads is exciting!
Retention numbers – Our retention numbers are going up a tiny bit. The 2024 numbers look much better but don’t count until the year is over. It looks slightly better but the increase has been very notable the last few years and we need to focus a little less on recruiting and more on retention for 2025.
JOD Course – The self-paced JOD course is up and running! This course is attached to the new JOD Competency CS-19! To sign you up for the JOD Course, please have your FSO click here:
The Culinary Specialist (CS) Jack-of-the-Dust (JOD), Structured on-the-job Training (SOJT), C-School is an introductory course to Coast Guard Dining Facility (CGDF) Perpetual Inventory (PI).
The course is designed to provide members new to the JOD role as well as previous JODs the training and skillset necessary to successfully fill the role as the CGDF (PI) JOD.
The design of the course is self-paced, with a 6-month completion timeline. Students are assessed by their respective Food Service Officer for submission accuracy with ultimate review by the CS “C” School Team, JOD SOJT Course Facilitator.
Unofficial Shopping List – The Unofficial Shopping list has been released. This list is unofficial, and positions will be added and removed between now and November 15th. Click here for more info:
Annual Audit submission – Before your next Annual Audit submission click here:
Starting 01OCT24, once your audit is accepted, you will receive an Annual Audit Endorsement memo from the COSL Team detailing the due date for your next annual audit.
Dual Card Holder – If you’re a dual card holder (Purchase/Travel card) and experiencing technical difficulties locating cards in Citi Banks web page, please click here:
There’s much more but you will have to wait until the State of the Rating LIVE on the Facebook group November 6th, Wednesday at 1500 EST – 1200 PST. To update yourself on what’s going on please visit the last State of the Rating review (Summer) at:
Thank you for everything you do, and we will see you soon!
MC
Very Respectfully,
Culinary Specialist Master Chief James Swenson
CS Force Master Chief (FORCM)
Phone: 860-389-4470
CS FORCE Master Chief "LIVE" Force Notes 