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 persons 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 persons
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
obligationan action or task required by ones
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 ships 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 officers 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 persons 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 ships 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