their personnel. They should have the freedom of making changes concerning their personnel and work stations and have the authority to train their personnel. They should also be able to make recommendations to training schedules. Replacement Personnel A fact of life in the Navy is the transfer of trained personnel. The secret to trained personnel is cross-training your people. Make sure each person knows the other person’s job. If you cross- train replacements for a particular job, they will be qualified to do the job. If the individual is not qualified, he or she should be assigned to a qualified person and remain with that individual until the job is understood. You and your division officer can then be confident of that person’s abilities if a plan of action is used to train your division personnel. WATCH ORGANIZATION The term duty has been defined in many different ways, with most definitions centering around an assigned task or place of service. The best definition of a duty is something that a person is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation—an action or task required by one’s position. Most of us are familiar with duty because we stand duty in addition to our regular work. But duty includes much more than simply standing a watch. Basically, we could divide duties into two categories, MILITARY (watches and so forth) and ADMINISTRATIVE (making watch bills, writing evals, giving work assignments, and so forth). A petty officer first class must be qualified to perform the duties in both cate- gories. A ship’s watch organization is second in importance only to the organization for battle. Great care is exercised in establishing the watch organization and in making sure all crew members understand their duties, responsibilities, and authority to make decisions. Personnel on watch are entrusted with the safety of the ship, its equipment, and its personnel. Confusion or conflict among watch standers can result in serious casualties or the loss of the ship. In many naval disasters the people at fault either were not aware of their duties and responsibilities or they did not think they had the authority to act. On the other hand, serious damage and loss of life have been averted by the timely action of watch standers working together as a coordinated team. WATCH, QUARTER, AND STATION BILL The watch, quarter, and station (WQS) bill is the commanding officer’s summary of personnel duty assignments and stations. This bill displays your duties for each emergency and watch condition. It also shows your duty requirements in administrative and operational bills. The primary purpose of the WQS bill is to inform all division personnel of their assignments. Division officers prepare, complete, and detail WQS bills. Once approved, these bills are posted in a prominent place within the division. The WQS bill shows name, rate, billet number, bunk, and locker number of each person in the division. In addition, it indicates each person’s battle station (conditions 1, 2, 3), fire station, fire and rescue station, collision station, abandon ship station (with equipment to be provided), special station for getting underway and anchoring, sea watch station, in-port watch station, and cleaning station. Based on the battle bill, the details of duties performed by the divisions are found in the general WQS bill. Watches, quarters for berthing and messing, and stations for battle emergencies, as well as routine work, are some of the duties included in the bill. Based on the general WQS bill, the assign- ments of stations and duties to all individuals, by name, are set forth in appropriate bills for each division of the ship. These bills should be conspicuously posted and kept up to date. The executive officer is responsible for maintaining a master WQS bill for the ship. Division officers are responsible for detailed WQS bills for the personnel in their division. These bills must be approved by the executive officer. Since the ship’s master WQS bill must accurately reflect all division assignments, any changes to the WQS bill must also be approved by the executive officer. 4-5