READY, RELEVANT, RESPONSIVE: A mission-ready Total Workforce for the Coast Guard BY CRAIG COLLINS
The Coast Guard motto was first bestowed by the New Orleans Bee in 1836, in praise of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Ingham. While on patrol off the Texas coast, the Ingham became the only U.S. vessel to fire a shot in support of the War of Texas Independence. The Bee declared the cutter “a vessel entitled to bear the best motto for a military public servant – SEMPER PARATUS.” The Coast Guard has staked its reputation on being “always ready” in the nearly two centuries since. On March 21, 2019, in his first State of the Coast Guard speech, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz identified his top priority as the service’s new leader: readiness. For a number of reasons, he said – including an increasingly complex global environment, a rising demand for Coast Guard services, and operational funding that has stagnated in the category of “nondiscretionary defense spending” since the Budget Control Act of 2011 – the service was in danger of being not ready enough. “Our missions have never been more relevant or demanding than today,” said Schultz. “However, we face very real challenges – so much so that we’re approaching a tipping point.” The Coast Guard’s assets were aging and suffering from deferred maintenance; its workforce was strained and undersized; its information systems were antiquated; and its shore infrastructure backlog exceeded $1.7 billion. Schultz remained optimistic about the future of the Coast Guard, and efforts to implement the guiding principles he identified upon assuming leadership in June 2018 – to remain ready, relevant and responsive – were well under way by the time of his address. While he and other advocates lobbied Congress for more support to modernize its assets, infrastructure, and mission platforms, other service members were at work implementing the service’s strategy for cultivating a “mission-ready total workforce.”
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Coast Guard OUTLOOK
As a federal employer, the Coast Guard has a lot going for it, boasting the highest employee retention rates among the armed services. Forty percent of its enlisted recruits stay for a 20-year career in the service, and 60 percent of its officers stay at least that long. But in striving to be what Schultz calls an “employer of choice,” the service isn’t merely competing with the other armed services; it’s competing with every other employer, public and private, in the United States. And it’s always looking to do better: In a period of constrained resources, it’s more important than ever that the service hold onto the resources it has – not
