Publication:Sea Talk Winter 2005/Individual readiness and Naval Reservists
From the Office of the Chief Staff Officer (Reserves)Navy Personnel and Training
As outlined by the Individual Readiness Policy Officer on p. 24, the Chief of Navy recently authorised changes to DI(N) PERS 31-46, Royal Australian Navy Policy on Individual Readiness. While some changes affect all (PN and Reserve) members, there are aspects of the policy of which Reservists should be aware.
To clarify the situation, the only NR personnel who are required to be individually ready (IR) are those undertaking a continuous full time service (CFTS) engagement of greater than 12 months, or those posted to a position that has a seagoing or deployment liability.
NR personnel engaged for more than 12 months of CFTS are fully funded for IR assessments and, at the discretion of DNOP/DSCM and the Medical Officer, may have any remedial health or dental shortfalls funded by Defence also.
Members posted on 'Reserve days' to a sea-going or deployment liability position are funded for IR assessments by Navy, with any health or dental shortfalls being the member's responsibility to remedy. Navy also funds a subsequent re-assessment.
NR personnel not engaged for service, who wish to become IR, must do so in their own time and at their own expense as it is not a Service requirement for them to be IR to contribute Reserve service.
PMKeyS is the RAN personnel management database and is the central repository for all information relating to a member's IR state. All RAN personnel are only assessed by Navy to be IR when PMKeyS reflects an overall readiness state of 'ready'. There are no partial degrees of meeting IR requirements; personnel are either 'ready' or 'not ready'.
'Ready' personnel must, in the previous 12 months, have:
- Been medically classified for 1 or 2 employment,
- A dental classification of 1 or 2,
- Successfully completed the RAN physical fitness test,
- Not received an unsatisfactory assessment in their sailor's performance appraisal report (SPAR) or naval officer's performance appraisal report (NOPAR);
- Completed and submitted for CO's signature a Member's Personal Statement on Availability for Deployment, and
- (For weapons user categories,) completed the appropriate weapons user course.
When ALL six of the above requirements have been met, and the information is recorded on PMKeyS with an overall 'ready' assessment, the member is entitled to wear the RAN Service Readiness Badge (SRB) appropriate to his or her seagoing allowance tier (1 - silver anchor, 2 - gold anchor, 3 - silver star or 4 - gold star). Conversely, if any of the six IR criteria lapses to 'not ready' the member is no longer entitled to wear the SRB.
IR, and wearing of the SRB, is a statement by the RAN member that he or she is ready in all respects to deploy, either within Australia or overseas, within 28 days of notification and this is a serious undertaking.
The current requirement for NR personnel not to be IR, unless engaged for service as outlined in this article, is being reviewed as part of the Naval Reserve Capability Review project being conducted by the Director of Naval Reserve Capability, Captain Rod Hayes.
