Personnel Shortage At U.S. Coast Guard Sinks 10 Cutters, 29 Stations

Recruitment and retention challenges person led nan U.S. Coast Guard into a system-wide service retreat. A 3500-person shortfall—a astir 10% shortage successful nan enlisted ranks—is forcing nan Coast Guard to return 10 cutters retired of service, transportation 5 tugs to seasonal activation, and shutter 29 vessel stations.

The moves, couched arsenic a bland “AY 24 Force Alignment Initiative”, coming an unprecedented nonaccomplishment of maritime capacity astatine a clip erstwhile nan United States is facing an array of analyzable challenges astatine sea. But nan Coast Guard simply “cannot support nan aforesaid level of operations” going forward. Behind nan scenes, nan work is utilizing nan situation to beforehand an array of modern guidance and unit initiatives to thief bring much group into nan Coast Guard—and support them there.

The cuts, coming arsenic nan Coast Guard has, according to Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan, “never been successful greater request astir nan world,” will hurt, but leaders were speedy to guarantee nan realignment will not origin a decay successful existing Search and Rescue capabilities. But, astatine a minimum, nan Coast Guard’s retreat does trim redundancy and raises risk. The cuts will roil nan enforcement of America’s maritime border, opening caller and vulnerable opportunities for migrants, supplier smugglers and criminal networks.

The Coast Guard’s emergency work drawdown, nevertheless painful, is necessary. The Coast Guard’s underfunded and overworked unit of 57,000 progressive work and reserve unit person been stretched bladed for a long, agelong time. But Fagan’s decisive action, coming conscionable days aft nan Coast Guard was boxed retired of a $100 cardinal funding supplemental for information and nan border, is much than conscionable a prudent effort to redirect Coast Guard unit towards 1700 mission-critical billets. It is simply a outcry for help.

The Coast Guard surely needs much funding, but, correct now, it could respire a batch easier if nan work was fixed nan elasticity to simply money recruiting efforts and allowed to trial retired caller unit guidance approaches.

Expect Drastic Service Cuts At Sea:

The cuts to nan Coast Guard cutter fleet are heavy and unexpected.

Three east-coast based Reliance-class cutters, nan USCGC Confidence (WMEC-619), nan USCGC Dauntless(WMEC-624) and nan USCGC Dependable (WMEC-626), will each participate layup successful mid 2024, becoming small much than in-reserve “parts-barns” for active, in-service cutters. Add successful nan March status of nan Decisive (ex-WMEC-629) pinch nan long-planned status of nan USCGC Steadfast (WMEC-623) later this year, and nan nonaccomplishment of Coast Guard cutter capacity becomes rather significant.

If nan cuts are allowed to spell through, nan Coast Guard will, nan abstraction of 2 years, person trim their fleet of mid-sized oceanic workhorses by almost 19 percent. And, erstwhile nan capacity is lost, thief is not coming anytime soon. Modern replacements, nan Offshore Patrol Cutters, are years down schedule. The first Heritage-class OPC, nan early USCGC Argus (OPC-1), is, astatine best, 2 years from seeing an operational deployment, and nan Stage II Heritage-class cutters whitethorn look additional challenges.

Put successful naval terms, nan Coast Guard cuts are incredibly drastic. They are arsenic if nan Pentagon abruptly decided, virtually overnight, to nonstop 14 of America’s fleet of 73 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to nan scrapyard, while looking hopefully to a fistful of Nimitz-class craft carriers, immoderate lower-capability Littoral Combat Ships—and nan Coast Guard—to capable nan capacity gap.

The Coast Guard’s emergency drawdown will person contiguous implications connected nan integrity of America’s maritime border. Admiral Fagan, successful an reside earlier this year, noted that nan Coast Guard is facing maritime migration unit “on a standard we’ve not seen successful decades.” To negociate nan monolithic migratory flow, medium-endurance cutters person led nan measurement to “prevent nan nonaccomplishment of life astatine oversea and deter those vulnerable voyages.” With nan cutters gone, seaborne migration will summation and nan chances of large-scale nonaccomplishment of life astatine oversea will spell up.

The abrupt departure of 3 East Coast cutters, coupled pinch nan reassignment of the Famous-class medium-endurance cutter Harriet Lane (WMEC-903) to nan Central Pacific, will unit awesome changes to maritime separator enforcement successful nan Caribbean. The Coast Guard’s smaller Sentinel-class cutters will request to do more, but acold much activity will apt autumn upon nan U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Air and Marine section arsenic good arsenic authorities agencies that grip maritime rule enforcement.

It will beryllium tough. The soon-to-depart cutters were not troubled, pier-bound slouches. They made a existent difference, and their absence will beryllium felt passim nan United States. USCGC Confidence, returning from a 62-day, 9,000-mile deployment this Fall, halted nan travel of immoderate $85 cardinal dollars of illicit substances into nan United States and rescued 42-migrants aboard an unsafe, makeshift vessel. In August, USCGC Dauntless completed a 42-day patrol, highlighted by nan rescue of an overloaded 60-ft alloy pinch 274 group aboard.

While old, nan ships handled a ferocious operational tempo. In nan first 182 days of 2023, slated-to-retire USCGC Dependable was connected deployment for 92 of them. While embarked, nan vessel recovered 1100 pounds of illicit contraband and interdicted/processed immoderate 800 migrants.

The cuts, nevertheless painful, make sense. The Reliance-class cutters, each approaching six decades of service, are immoderate of nan oldest ships successful nan Coast Guard’s already venerable fleet. As cutter repair costs and operational casualties grow, nan Coast Guard cannot spend to support nan old, solid-state vessels operational, astatine oversea and applicable successful nan progressively contested, high-tech maritime.

Other Coast Guard platforms were trim arsenic well. In summation to nan draw-down of nan medium-endurance cutter fleet, 7 of nan Coast Guard’s sixty remaining 87-foot Marine Protector-class Patrol Boats will participate layup, and 5 of nan Coast Guard’s 11 65-foot harbor tugs will go seasonal assets, activated only to break harbor crystal successful nan winter.

Service Cuts Hurt But They Are Needed:

Action was overdue. Despite a brave face, nan Coast Guard has struggled for years to support distant bases operational and large cutters astatine sea. On land, bases would sometimes conflict on pinch 60% of approved unit levels, pinch everyone engaged and yet, nary expertise to do immoderate of nan galore Coast Guard missions well. At sea, cutters often went connected deployment short-handed aliases cardinal unit were yanked from shore assignments to thief support nan Coast Guard’s ferocious operational tempo afloat.

While nan Coast Guard celebrates their unit elasticity and an individual’s committedness to mission, nan grinding uncertainty of changeless “mission-juggling” aboard balky, hard-to-run platforms has taken a toll connected morale, exacerbating nan Coast Guard’s already-big retention challenges.

Admiral Fagan’s reliable action to trim Coast Guard services is simply a patient break from nan past. Traditionally, Coast Guard unit shortfalls were masked, dispersed crossed nan fleet, leaving nan short-handed cutter fleet to muddle done a blistering operational tempo and demanding ngo requirements. Today, nan Coast Guard’s newer and much tin vessels are designed for unit efficiency, making them acold little capable to sorb random unit shortfalls. On a Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter, each personnel of nan 24-person crew is essential. It’s really nan Coast Guard is eking near-mid-endurance cutter capacity retired of a acold smaller vessel.

The cuts ashore are, successful part, driven by information and redundancy concerns. There’s simply nary measurement to run a mini vessel squad safely if it is short-handed. Given nan staffing challenges, consolidating services successful areas wherever nan Coast Guard tin still meet statutory hunt and rescue consequence expectations makes sense.

The Coast Guard’s action will beryllium politically contentious, and it should be. The Coast Guard does request much thief from supporters and stakeholders, and work cuts whitethorn conscionable beryllium nan point that forces imaginable Coast Guard advocates into action. While nan capacity cuts are galling, it is nan only measurement forward. There’s nary going back.

By cutting profoundly now and accepting further risk, nan Coast Guard tin support America’s beloved oversea work from collapse. But, arsenic nan Coast Guard starts implementing these monolithic cuts complete nan adjacent year, it should, arsenic much migrants drown and much smugglers statesman moving much cocaine, fentanyl and different vulnerable items into America from nan sea, go very evident that nan Coast Guard needs much funding, much nationalist support and much champions astatine each level of nan U.S. government.