A few questions for any resident OS's,  a few non-rates at my station have decided to go OS.  Is SARFUNDS required in A-School?  Would it be worth their time to take the ESAR course and pass SARFUNDS prior to getting A-School orders?  Any general advice I can pass along to them?

Hey guns, I talked to my son, he is away for the weekend but gave me a quick call. He said any knowledge is never a bad thing (I think the cg kidnaps our real children and replaces them.with smarter versions... anyway) he said any knowledge can help. But SARFUNDS is not taught in A school and generally not until, he believes, first class. He said you can get to it through the learning portal. If the nonrates can do it, go for it. His screen name here is seabass, send him a pm if you like. FloridaGirl is of course another excellent source of OS info.

No SARFUNDS is not required for A School nor is it taught, and yes you can take the online course through the Learning Management System (LMS) formally known as the Learning Portal (sounds way better). And generally any knowledge of R21 and the SAR procedure will be a major benefit to prospective OS students as Old Guard2 stated, it provides a great insight into how OS's run potential SAR from the Command Center point of view. If you have any other questions you can message me as well.

Also be aware that in order to complete this course there is also a written test that is administered through your unit ESO.

Thanks much Rivera. I was trying to remember all that Colin said.

Thanks for the feedback. I just passed SARFUNDS so I'm familiar with the course, good to know that it's not a necessity for them in A-School like DWO is for BM's. I think I'll still tell them to take the course at least since it can't hurt. They're all comms watch qualified so they have some basic familiarity with R21 and the SAR system. I'll be in touch if anything else comes up, thanks again!

Not a problem. I actually think it would help more than anything, at least when they get to the Sector portion of A-School they won't get blindsided by some of the scenarios that the instructors will put them through.

Sarfunds is a requirements in the Command Center PQS. If they go to a sector out of a school, they will need to take it anyway.

Actually I think Sarfunds satisfies the requirement for a c school - I don't have my quals on me but I do know I had to take it at my new unit. They were surprised my old unit didn't have me take it. I was mad after I took it. Awesome for study stuff for the SWE.

theres good study guides for the actual test administered by the ESO on boatswain-mate.net.

I started the course in elearning but never finished it. It wasn't what I needed to know for the test which BMs need to make coxn on standard boats.

But hey, if they're standing comms might as well right?

Bells I used those study guides too, really useful. I slogged through the whole course online, wasn't too bad but there was a lot of knowledge that wasn't that pertinent to a coxswain.