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The Coast Guard needs leaders who can say “no.” If the time has passed when an admiral is able to stand up to Congress and say “No, we cannot do as you say without more people and funding or a corresponding reduction in requirements elsewhere,” then the Coast Guard is finished.
Many woes have also been expressed because of funding inadequacies. Some believe it is related to the fact that the Coast Guard is in the Department of Transportation. There is a lot of talk about moving the Coast Guard to a different department, such as Justice, Treasury, Defense, or even a new Department of the Coast Guard. I don’t think it matters which department the Coast Guard is in, as long as Congress and the American public recognize what its mission and responsibilities are.
The diversity of the Coast Guard is hurting the service rather than helping it. For example, there is a difference of opinion between people from the “great white fleet” (the 270- and 378- foot cutters) and the various patrol boat assets; between small-boat stations and air stations; and between the orange- hull (icebreaker) and black-hull (buoy tender) sailors. Nearly one-third of the active Coast Guard fleet is black hulled. Is it necessary for the Coast Guard to have an orange- and a blackhulled fleet? Are these really essential to the national interest or do they merely provide command billets needed for ticket-punchers? Is the Marine Safety Division part of or a separate function of the Coast Guard?
Moreover, the National Science Foundation has stated that it wants to operate its own icebreakers; the Coast Guard should let that agency do so with its own back-ups and supply system. The Coast Guard cannot support two or more 399-foot Polar-class icebreakers while at the same time closing several 20-25-man lifeboat stations. Whom is the Coast Guard really serving?
Furthermore, aids to navigation are not so vital that they must be serviced by an active military service. The na
tion’s defense will not suffer if the buoys are not serviced by the Coast Guard. These services could be provided more efficiently by some other type of private or public organization. While crews of buoy tenders work hard for their money—work that is hard, dirty beyond belief, and dangerous— the taxpayers are not getting their money’s worth from these vessels. The deck crew of ten does the dirty work, while 40 others support them.
Money problems led Coast Guard Headquarters last year to put out the word for an early release program, hoping that 500 people would take advantage and leave early. What actually happened was an eye-opener. More than 1,200 people asked to leave. Why were these experienced people so willing to leave? Something needs to be done to identify and rectify the reasons for this attitude.
The Coast Guard can turn the tide on the drug trade and save the youth of the United States, but it must know that this is its mission, and it must have the necessary resources. Two E-2C aircraft cannot cover the area from Maine to Texas. No wonder the Coast Guard fails to stop 80 to 90% of the illegal contraband entering the country. Having two E-2Cs, 41 HU- 258, 31 HC-130s, and maybe 150 helicopters employed to stop drugs coming into the country is not enough to do the job. The Air Force operates nearly 700 C-130s; the Coast Guard has 31.
In order to have an effective aviation interdiction program, the Coast Guard’s assets must be doubled or even tripled.
The same point can be argued for its patrol boat community. Each of the Coast Guard’s 24 remaining 95-footers must be replaced, the 82-footers are due for replacement in the near future, and the service life needs to be extended on the newly acquired 110s.
The Coast Guard has a new Heritage- class cutter on the drawing board, which could be delivered by 1991, but how many people will die from drugs between now and then?
Effective use of all of the Coast
Guard’s 378s and 270s and total in®' gration of patrol boat and aviation as sets will make a difference. The 210* should be transferred to other country for use in their coastal units, and eac transfer should be replaced by two ne patrol boats. Each time a high-enduf" ance cutter or a medium-endurance c ter goes on patrol it should be accoW panied by no fewer than four patrol boats. The aviation assets should be stationed at various points, and there should always be a C-130 or high- endurance aircraft equipped with its long-range radar in the air. The air sea assets need to work together m° ’ and with the aerostat technology noVJ( available it will be extremely difficU for drug runners to penetrate Coast Guard defenses.
If a congressional mandate is re- ^ quired to get the job done, so be it- Coast Guard missions must be vah- dated, which will mean that some vV1
be discarded. The search-and-rescue
mission should always be a priority will complement the drug-interdicti°n and law enforcement missions. The “Black” and “Orange” fleets must let go, as well as licensing division5’ oil pollution clean-up responsibilit>eS’ marine science programs, and many other functions. The air and patrol i sets should be greatly increased. force of 23,000 enlisted people and 3,300 officers, including warrant cers, the Coast Guard could meet th challenge of search-and-rescue and a enforcement duties. This is a chance for it to take the bull by the horns a steer the service in the right direct'0 Only then will the Coast Guard be a5 sured of its tricentennial.
Petty Officer Ryder has served four years in Marine Corps, two years in the Hawaii Army tional Guard, and ten years in the Coast On He has served as an HC-130 dropmaster an ^ line supervisor at Air Station Barber's Point- waii. Since 1983 he has been the executive P"^ officer at Recruiting Office, Freeport, New ^ the supervisor in charge at Recruiting Office . Jefferson, New York, and is currently the e* tive petty officer at Recruiting Office Provi e Rhode Island.
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Proceedings / OctoW1'
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