Throughout our history, the Coast Guard has served the nation during a multitude of natural disasters, security threats, and border crises, as well as a global pandemic. These incidents have reaffirmed the need for qualified emergency managers and incident management professionals. One such way to ensure qualification is through professional credentialing which serves to recognize accomplishments within the organization and among partner agencies, stakeholders, and across communities. The newly launched Coast Guard Emergency Management Credential (CGEMC) serves this purpose, and reservists have an opportunity to earn the CGEMC using both military and civilian experience within the five mission areas of the National Preparedness Goal outlined below:
- Prevention: Avoidance, prevention of, or stopping an imminent, threatened, or actual act of terrorism.
- Protection: Capabilities to safeguard the homeland against threats of terrorism and man-made or natural disasters.
- Mitigation: Activities designed to reduce or eliminate the probability of a disaster and to reduce the vulnerability of people and communities to the negative impacts of a disaster.
- Response: Actions to save lives, protect property and the environment, stabilize the incident, and meet basic human needs following an incident.
- Recovery: Activities that restore critical community functions and begin to manage stabilization efforts.
The Office of Emergency Management and Disaster Response (CG-OEM) developed and administers, CGEMC promotes the principles of emergency management by capturing the related training, qualifications, and certifications of the Coast Guard workforce, and is comparable to other credentialing processes developed by states and international organizations.
The CGEMC application guide, located on the CG-OEM Portal site, provides a one-page checklist of specific requirements. Components of the CGEMC application include an experience memo, emergency management training hours (or a master’s degree in an emergency management-related field), an exam, a letter of reference and two additional contacts, documentation of professional contributions, and the completion of specific FEMA Independent Study (IS) courses.
Reservists are highly encouraged to apply for the new CGEMC, using both military and civilian experience as applicable. Earning the CGEMC is an arduous and time-consuming process, but recipients of the credential stand out as highly skilled professionals with a thorough understanding of the emergency management profession.
For more information regarding the CGEMC, please visit the CG-OEM Portal page. You can also email the CGEMC Program Administrator, Steven Maynard, or call 202-372-2230.
In the news:
Resources: