Coast Guard to Lay Up Some Cutters, Boats in Face of Recruit Shortfall seapowermagazine.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from seapowermagazine.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The U.S Coast Guard is adapting to a workforce shortage by making operational adjustments, aiming to preserve its capacity to fulfill critical mission.
SANTA RITA, Guam—Cmdr. Christopher Jasnoch took command of USCGC Hickory (WLB 212) from Cmdr. Linden Dahlkemper in a change of command ceremony held at the Top o’the Mar in Guam
Change of Command Ceremony Marks New Chapter for USCG Cutter Hickory hstoday.us - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hstoday.us Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
1 Viewed by many at the time as a doom-and-gloom prediction, a hypothetical situation
in
extremis, Smicklas’s projected reckoning is coming to pass. The Coast Guard does not have enough cuttermen volunteering for assignment to send its fleet to sea. Without dramatic, immediate action, it will have to select-and-direct cuttermen to serve afloat in six months’ time.
The current lessening of standards signals a death spiral of underqualified officers afloat compared with today’s force; swift action in the spirit of Smicklas’ clarion call is critical to
make sea duty attractive. In the absence of leadership, incentive, and robust support for seagoing officers, the Coast Guard will end up with a less capable fleet unable to meet future challenges.