CHAPTER 3
SUPERVISION AND TRAINING
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completing this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
1. Describe the management responsibilities of the combat systems/
weapons division supervisor.
2. Describe the types of training and procedures for training as used by
the shipboard combat systems/weapons division.
INTRODUCTION
As you advance to FC1 or FCC, you will function
as a first-line supervisor. In other words, you will be
in immediate control of personnel, You will also act
as the liaison between your superiors and your subor-
dinates. You will be responsible for planning work,
issuing jobs, instructing personnel, checking work,
and reporting to your superiors on the progress of as-
signed tasks.
So, as you can see, you will have far greater duties
and responsibilities than you had at your previous
paygrade. Since you have acquired much valuable
job-related knowledge, it is now your turn to pass that
knowledge onto others.
As a combat systems/weapons supervisor, you will
be responsible for maintaining all division combat
systems equipment. Maintaining this equipment is a
job of vital importance. It requires a leadership ability
that can be developed only by personnel who have a
high degree of technical competence combined with
a deep sense of personal responsibility.
A combat systems/weapons supervisor spends less
time working on equipment and more time ensuring
that the work center is running smoothly. Instead of
working on a specific equipment, you will spend time
on other jobs, such as updating a personnel qualifica-
tion standards (PQS) progress chart or scheduling
maintenance for the next week. As a senior petty
officer, you will find more people asking your opinion
on technical matters. Your responsibilities for techni-
cal leadership are special to your rating and are di-
rectly related to the nature of your work.
The combat systems/weapons field is growing rap-
idly, caused in part by the swift pace of development
in modem technology. This requires that you keep up
with the latest developments. As technology advances,
you will find yourself involved with equipment and sys-
tems much more complex than any you have previously
encountered.
Sometimes you may need to develop a procedure
to check out the operation of a new piece of equipment
because the available technical information or technical
manual has only limited data for isolating a malfunc-
tion. You must then be able to instruct your subordi-
nates in using these newly developed, interim proce-
dures. Therefore, you must acquire the technical and
leadership skills required to translate these ideas into
actions.
This chapter discusses the management (which in-
cludes supervision and training) of a combat systems/
weapons division and some of the problems that super-
visors face in leadership roles, In no way can we cover
all areas of supervision and training, but we can provide
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