Dateline NAS Jacksonville

The Naval Reserve Readiness Command Southeast Policy Board convened today with seventeen items to consider. It was a productive meeting and actually went much faster than I thought. I also knew many of the people on the board which getting a little scary on one hand and comfortable on the other. It is scary in that I still think of myself as being fairly new to the program (yes, I know, 14 years is not new but I said I still think of myself as new) and comforting in that I am finding friends everywhere I turn.

We split into three groups and looked at a few items per group then reconvened to discuss as a board. It was interesting to learn what some of the concerns are out there and to be in a position to be able to do something about it. Many, if not most, of the items will be returned to the originator because policies already exist to handle the problem but the originators were unaware of them. As we discussed the issues, I found a wide disparity between how the various Reserve Centers enforce and interpret policy. You would think that if it is black and white then we would all be doing the same thing. Of course the truth is that even if it is in black and white there is still plenty of room for variations in interpretation. In many cases having that flexibility to interpret policy is a good thing.

Tomorrow we sum up our findings and wrap things up. I worked on summarizing the findings from our group tonight at the BOQ so we should be ready for editing in the morning. Then it is home to get ready for classes to begin next week.