Logo uploaded by: SSG Andres Redondo
Coast Guard
Coast Guard
Posted on Mar 13, 2020
The Coast Guard Has Billions in Overdue Maintenance, and Lawmakers Are Concerned
4.53K
8
4
3
3
0
Coast Guard
Posted 4 y ago
Responses: 3
2
2
0
MCPO (Join to see)
We've been underfunded for... well, forever. If it costs $1000 for us to operate, most years we'd be getting $900 or less. We live the motto of "Do more with less." We've been minimally manned since we started in 1789, and the best way I can describe it is using the other branches as an example.
A job takes 100-worker-hours to complete. The other branches would send 120 personnel out there to do the job with an O3/O4 to supervise. There'd be so many people out there getting into each others' way that it would take 6-hours to do. The Coast Guard would send 10-people with an E-4/5 to supervise and we'd get it done in 9-hours.
Then, AFTERWARD, the other branches would send out press released about their great accomplishments and get camera time on the news - while we just went on about our business. Remember those great Marine Corps commercials of the knights slaying the dragons? Yeah, the production budget for just ONE of those commercials was more than TRIPLE the entire ANNUAL public affairs budget for the entire Coast Guard.
When I first joined in 1992, I saw our folks from our Search and Rescue stations dumpster diving to collect aluminum cans for recycling to buy parts and tools.
Our motto is "Semper Paratus" - always ready - but we commonly say, "Simply Forgot-us." Most military folks have no idea we're an official military branch, and most civilians wonder what we do on our "real jobs" - thinking we're part time like the National Guard. Most heads explode when they hear that we've got boots on the ground in Afghanistan right now - and that we've been involved in every armed conflict since 1790. When Liddy Dole was Secretary of Transportation (our service secretary when were under DoT), in her THIRD year as Secretary, she was asked in front of Congress about capabilities of the Coast Guard and she responded, "What's the Coast Guard."
To make matters worse, we're an emergency operations service - we respond to whatever happens. Our budget folks guess that we need $100 million to operate and respond next year - and if everything happens as predicted, we can make ends meet. BUT - add an unexpected hurricane or an Exxon Valdez spill and our budget is destroyed. Then, since we're not DoD, it's harder than hell to get emergency funding from Congress. It's easier now that we're in Homeland Security, but it's still rough.
How many 40 year old aircraft does the Air Force fly? That's the AVERAGE age of our airframes - and that includes our new stuff. Our cutters average 70 years old. Old crap falls apart and costs more to maintain. It's a house of cards for us.
A job takes 100-worker-hours to complete. The other branches would send 120 personnel out there to do the job with an O3/O4 to supervise. There'd be so many people out there getting into each others' way that it would take 6-hours to do. The Coast Guard would send 10-people with an E-4/5 to supervise and we'd get it done in 9-hours.
Then, AFTERWARD, the other branches would send out press released about their great accomplishments and get camera time on the news - while we just went on about our business. Remember those great Marine Corps commercials of the knights slaying the dragons? Yeah, the production budget for just ONE of those commercials was more than TRIPLE the entire ANNUAL public affairs budget for the entire Coast Guard.
When I first joined in 1992, I saw our folks from our Search and Rescue stations dumpster diving to collect aluminum cans for recycling to buy parts and tools.
Our motto is "Semper Paratus" - always ready - but we commonly say, "Simply Forgot-us." Most military folks have no idea we're an official military branch, and most civilians wonder what we do on our "real jobs" - thinking we're part time like the National Guard. Most heads explode when they hear that we've got boots on the ground in Afghanistan right now - and that we've been involved in every armed conflict since 1790. When Liddy Dole was Secretary of Transportation (our service secretary when were under DoT), in her THIRD year as Secretary, she was asked in front of Congress about capabilities of the Coast Guard and she responded, "What's the Coast Guard."
To make matters worse, we're an emergency operations service - we respond to whatever happens. Our budget folks guess that we need $100 million to operate and respond next year - and if everything happens as predicted, we can make ends meet. BUT - add an unexpected hurricane or an Exxon Valdez spill and our budget is destroyed. Then, since we're not DoD, it's harder than hell to get emergency funding from Congress. It's easier now that we're in Homeland Security, but it's still rough.
How many 40 year old aircraft does the Air Force fly? That's the AVERAGE age of our airframes - and that includes our new stuff. Our cutters average 70 years old. Old crap falls apart and costs more to maintain. It's a house of cards for us.
(1)
(0)
1
1
0
1
1
0
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google