Maritime Forces and Manpower Management (N1)

SC’s functional directorates provide specialized support to the command’s business programs. In addition, the directorates ensure compliance with policies mandated by U.S. law, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Transportation Command, the Department of the Navy and MSC.

Tracked by the Maritime Forces and Manpower Management Directorate (N1), total employment at Military Sealift Command for FY 2002 rose 4.2 percent over the previous year. Seventy-one percent of MSC’s people served at sea aboard MSC-controlled ships.

MSC Employees Worldwide
	Federal Civil Service	Active Duty Military	Reserve Military	Contract Mariners	TOTAL
Serving Afloat	3,929	566	0	1,939	6,434
Serving Ashore	1,080	221	1,331	0	2,632
TOTALS	5,009	787	1,331	1,939	9,066

The Afloat Personnel Management Center met 202 percent of its civilian mariner hiring goals in FY 2002. Additionally, APMC personnel streamlined the civilian mariner medical screening process, allowing medical staffs to conduct the physicals at facilities most convenient for the mariners. The center’s aggressive approach to developing MSC’s own personnel proved worthwhile with100 entry-level personnel promoted to able seaman and engine utility during the year.

MSC’s Counsel (N2) developed the war-risk insurance agreement between the Department of Defense and the Department of Transportation that was signed by President George W. Bush in May. The agreement allows DOT, through the U.S. Maritime Administration, to issue premium-free marine war-risk insurance to ships providing service to DOD on a worldwide basis. The agreement gives MSC and DOD the flexibility to self-insure rather than pay any unreasonable increase in insurance premiums due to increased war risk when a ship is expected to enter a war-risk zone.

The Operations and Plans Directorate (N3/5) continued operating the MSC Command Center as a full crisis action team to support Operation Enduring Freedom in FY 2002. The directorate also continued obtaining protective clothing as well as detection and decontamination equipment for ships in the Ready Reserve Force and commercial ships chartered by MSC to support contingency operations.

The Logistics Directorate (N4) helped establish a single-site storage facility to support the centralized management and worldwide distribution of shipboard force protection and individual protective equipment for the MSC fleet. The directorate also took the lead in partnering with Naval District Washington to transform a portion of MSC headquarters into a state-of-the-art conference center.

ABOVE: (Left to right) Rear Adm. John Stewart, USNR, Vice Commander, Military Sealift Command, William Wegener of USNS Guadalupe, Enrique Evangelista of USNS Sioux and Rear Adm. Steven Maas, USN, Commander, Navy Exchange Command, gather for the presentation of first place large ship category and runner up small ship category for food service excellence during the International Food Service Executives Association annual conference. Photos by Bill Cook.
RIGHT: More than 50 three-pasta, shellfish fusion salads waiting to be served to hungry guests of the Healthy Hearts Awards dinner in Tampa, Fla.

The Command, Control, Communication and Computer Systems Directorate (N6) completed installation of wideband voice/data satellite systems on board all but three of MSC’s Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force ships, allowing vastly improved Internet and secure data communication capabilities.

In cooperation with N8, the Comptroller Directorate, N6 also upgraded Oracle Federal Financials, the command’s financial management system. The upgrade of this major, non-customized, commercial off-the-shelf software application was a first for the Navy and improved overall performance at minimal cost to the government, especially the ability to accept requisitions from other applications.

MSC's Engineering Directorate (N7) was actively involved in the specification development, acquisition and design oversight of the new Lewis and Clark-class (T-AKE) dry cargo/ammunition ships that will join the MSC combat logistics fleet. The directorate also developed the requirements for a shipboard security module that will centralize control and monitoring of closed-circuit television cameras, intrusion detection alarms, hull perimeter lighting and audible warning systems.

The Comptroller Directorate (N8) improved the interface between the command’s financial management system and other financial programs, improving purchase requisition actions for all MSC users through reduced response time and improved data processing efficiency.

The Strategic Planning Directorate (N9) established agreements with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard to provide ship and small boat operating contracts. The agreement with NOAA supports a platform for hydrographic surveys and the National Data Buoy Center.

MSC’s FY 2002 contract actions totaled more than $1.1 billion.

The Coast Guard agreement supports training programs for new USCG responsibilities associated with homeland security. The directorate also was the driving force behind chartering of the high-speed vessel Westpac Express for the Marine Corps’ Third Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, Japan – an innovative solution to a Marine Corps transportation challenge.

The Contracts and Business Management Directorate (N10), in addition to processing and awarding the 36-month time-charter contract for HSV Westpac Express, awarded 424 Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement contracts for dry-cargo time charters through the Sealift Program. In all, MSC contract actions totaled more than $1.1 billion in FY 2002.