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Is Admiral Thad Allen Giving Away Coast Guards Military Identity

Almost daily we get new information on the issues associated with Admiral Thad Allen’s rush to modernize Coast Guard at any costs.  As it turns out, the costs have been high in both dollars and personnel.  In three earlier reports we discussed what many believe to be a civilianization of the Coast Guard:

• iTeam Update (Part 2) – Can Coast Guard Afford to Wait to Fix Mission Support
• Coast Guard Rush to Modernize an Enormous Time and Money Sink
• Communication and Cooperation are no Substitute for Command and Control – The Civilianization of the U.S. Coast Guard

Under Allen’s modernization, Coast Guard no longer resembles the other branches of the military.  If you travel to Norfolk, VA you can easily identify with Naval Station Norfolk, or Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and even Langley Air Force Base.  In California you can find Naval Base San Diego, and in North Carolina you’ll find Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg.  All of these are easily identified as military bases and commands.  But if you’re looking for a Coast Guard Base you won’t find one.

The Coast Guard has no actual bases by name, … none.  What Coast Guard does have are Base Support Units (BSU).  To those inside Coast Guard who understand that BSU’s replaced Integrated Support Commands (ISC), the connection to a base is understood.  But it’s still not actually a base by name or command.  It’s a Unit.  Not only is it a unit with a commanding officer, it’s a unit without an executive officer.  No military hierarchy.

Allen’s modernization took ISC’s that resembled what other branches of the military would associate with a Base Command, and broke it up into three small units.  Bases exist to support war fighters and operators so that they and their commands can focus on operational missions, not making the toilets flush, cleaning teeth, healing the sick and feeding the troops.   A one stop base commander is and has been the norm for decades, until this past October.

What once resembled a military base to the world, now is representative of a company acquired in a hostile takeover, broken up into small chunks and sold off.  Allen has authorized the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars on contractors and studies of how to make his modernized Coast Guard work.  In the meantime the men and women who rely on services provided by a base, must turn to three Unit commanders.

To make all this even worse and to some we spoke with absolutely embarrassing, Coast Guard has just chartered a group to study the role of Executive Officers.  Apparently Coast Guard wants to understand what legacy tasks are performed by former Executive Officers.  The fact that anyone in the Coast Guard would need to study the role of a full-time Executive Officer is indicative of a need to study military hierarchy in the first place.

Possibly Coast Guard should look at the need for Commanding Officers at all.

Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty – A Candidate to Replace MCPOCG Skip Bowen

Master Chief Isherwood

Master Chief Isherwood – An Example Worth Following!

As mentioned on our Twitter site yesterday, Master Chief Kevin Isherwood issued an apology for his remarks last Friday night while addressing the Chief’s Mess at the CPOA Quarters in Elizabeth City, NC.

Isherwood assumed duties as Command Master Chief for the Chief of Staff, U.S. Coast Guard, Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, D.C., in June 2008.

We will not print Master Chief Isherwood actual comments from Friday night.

Isherwood’s candid and very heart-felt apology speaks volumes about the man, the leader and Sailor.  His example in this instance is exactly what we would have expected from the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Skip Bowen on two occasions this  year when he made inappropriate comments on his Blog and at the retirement of Master Chief Trish Stolle.  Bowen never apologized or tried to rationalize his statements.

Chiefs,

I would like to apologize to all of the Coast Guard family and maybe more specifically to the aviation community in attendance Friday night.

My unfortunate choice of words was not appropriate in my attempt to highlight the contributions of the spouses.  As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized the connotation and was horrified that I said them.  I personally and professionally embarrassed you, those with friends or family on CG-1705 and the entire Coast Guard family with my insensitive terminology.  I assure you that it will NEVER happen again!

Master Chief Kevin Isherwood

FBI Most Wanted Terrorists

 

Coast Guard Report – Reader Comments

Reader Comments you may have missed.  Click the hyperlink dates and times to visit the original posts being commented on.

Submitted on 2009/11/23 at 11:17am

Did Mr. Stinson forget what he wrote in September?

http://cgblog2.blogspot.com/2009/09/and-question-is.html

I’ve been thinking a bit about the service’s embrace of social media. Well, the Thadmiral’s embrace of new media… and the host of people who are waiting for next summer.

A couple of my compatriots, er, shipmates in the vernacular, I guess, have decided that the heat is cranking up. There are too many dinosaurs and it is too darn easy to post something that is thought to be career ending. Too bad, frankly. I know that SIGNO 1 values honest dialogue, but too many other senior officers and civilians are running scared. And scared for the darnedest things. I even had a senior officer deny me organizational data for a dissertation — yes, the bloody doctorate I’ve worked on for five years — an academic exercise done under the close supervision of the university’s institutional review board. Not blogging, for sure. And he has denied me access to all organizational data. I didn’t want names, just numbers; numbers of vacancies over time, numbers of attrition and retention, numbers of formal and informal civil rights complaints. Nope, nada, nil. And, why? Fear. The same reason people are down on social media. Fear. Said the naysaying senior officer: “Once you have the data, you are free to interpret it as you wish without the filters of a command structure.” Er, isn’t that the purpose of academic research? But, hey, I’m just one person, and sorry if this puts a “crimp on [my] educational goals but the security of sensitive data, the trust of our people, and the reputation of [the agency] outweigh any individual benefits.”

Bloggers and academics, beware. “They” don’t want the truth to rear its ugly, ugly head. I fear where we might be in 12 months.

Submitted on 2009/11/23 at 9:44am

Perhaps it is best to post anonymously. There’s an ‘us vs. them’ culture spreading like wildfire (both within the organization and on a larger social / global scale.) Posting by name simply makes you a target of ‘investigative journalists’ with little else to talk about;)

 

Navy Announces Availability of ex-John F. Kennedy for Donation

From Naval Sea Systems Command Office of Corporate Communications

WASHINGTON (NNS) — In a Federal Register notice published on Nov. 23, 2009, the Department of the Navy advertised the availability of ex-John F. Kennedy (CV 67), located at the Navy’s Inactive Ships Maintenance Office, Philadelphia, Pa. for donation as a museum/memorial under the authority of Title 10 U.S.C. Section § 7306.

Eligible recipients may include any State, Commonwealth, or possession of the United States or any municipal corporation or political subdivision thereof; the District of Columbia; or any organization incorporated as a nonprofit entity (under Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code).

According to the Federal Register notice, the deadline for submission of Phase I documentation, a Letter of Intent and an Executive Summary, is Jan. 22, 2010.

November: A Time to Celebrate, Commemorate first Americans

By Dan Bowen, Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka Public Affairs

YOKOSUKA, Japan (NNS) — November has been proclaimed National Native American Heritage Month by President Barack Obama.

In his proclamation, Obama calls upon all Americans to “commemorate this month with appropriate programs and activities, and to celebrate Nov. 27, 2009, as Native American Heritage Day.”

“Native American voices have echoed through the mountains, valleys, and plains of our country for thousands of years, and it is now our time to listen,” said Obama in his public statement.

Don’t Be That Guy- Another Coast Guard Academy Video

Coast Guard Report – Reader Comments

Reader Comments you may have missed.  Click the hyperlink dates and times to visit the original posts being commented on.

Submitted on 2009/11/23 at 8:20pm

This is how they will deal with it; first they will discredit those enlisted that are involved so it will somehow look like it was their fault, he will walk on most of the charges based on a technicality, and then he will quietly retire while nobody is watching.

Were talking officer core values and ethos here.

Submitted on 2009/11/23 at 7:39pm

I trust the current leadership to deal with Captain Hamilton in accordance with our core values and ethos. All your comments are valid and will be taken into consideration.

Submitted on 2009/11/23 at 7:10pm

I doubt (or at least hope) they didn’t get kicked out. This type of stuff was as common as going to class when I was at USNA. As for “locked up,” I don’t think so. Military structure YES, locked up NO. It’s all a part of the experience. Life at a service academy (at least at USNA) is a leadership laboratory.

Submitted on 2009/11/23 at 5:22pm

Anonymous :OK,
There are a few violations of the UCMJ in that video if those guys really at the academy.

Are you serious? You are talking about kids that are between 18 and 20 locked up in a rigid military structure 24 hours a day, and can only really try and get away from it on the weekends. Even then they are stuck in the area since only seniors are allowed to have cars, and you are considering UCMJ for this, because they are having some mostly harmless fun?

FBI Releases 2008 Hate Crime Statistics

Statistics released today by the Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed that 7,783 criminal incidents involving 9,168 offenses were reported in 2008 as a result of bias toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or disability. Published by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Hate Crime Statistics, 2008, includes data about hate crime incidents submitted by law enforcement agencies throughout the nation.

Hate Crime Statistics, 2008, includes the following information:

• An analysis of the 7,780 single-bias incidents revealed that 51.3 percent were motivated by a racial bias, 19.5 percent were motivated by a religious bias, 16.7 percent were motivated by a sexual orientation bias, and 11.5 percent were motivated by an ethnicity/national origin bias. One percent involved a bias against a disability.
• There were 5,542 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons in 2008. Intimidation accounted for 48.8 percent of crimes against persons, simple assaults for 32.1 percent, and aggravated assaults for 18.5 percent. Seven murders were reported as hate crimes.
• There were 3,608 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against property; the majority (82.3 percent) were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism. The remaining 17.7 percent of crimes against property consisted of robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other offenses.
• Of the 6,927 known offenders, 61.1 percent were white and 20.2 percent were black. The race was unknown for 11.0 percent, and other races accounted for the remaining known offenders
• The largest percentage (31.9 percent) of hate crime incidents occurred in or near homes; followed by 17.4 percent on highways, roads, alleys, or streets; 11.7 percent at schools or colleges; 6.1 percent in parking lots or garages; and 4.2 percent in churches, synagogues, or temples. The remaining 28.8 percent of hate crime incidents took place at other specified locations, multiple locations, or other/unknown locations.

To view the full report, visit http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2008/index.html.

Elizabeth City Area Convention & Visitors Bureau

Public Service Announcement

Jessica Faulkingham, Website Coordinator, Elizabeth City Area Convention & Visitors Bureau has provided an update to the Elizabeth City page.

If your Coast Guard concentration area would like to reach a larger audience, please let us know.