Coast Guard Congressional Affairs Officer Just Bad At His Day Job?
Our post “Reader Encourages us to Research Story on Secret Coast Guard Program” has generated a number of comments. This one was deserving of its own post.
One day while flipping through the message board I saw ALCOAST 381. I read it – and I thought it was quite interesting given the issue with HBCU’s and the lack of outreach that has been reported on this site. This is the only time I had heard of this outreach program. I frankly know very little about HBCUs and started reading this website because of Deepwater but found the Civil Rights thing interesting.
I don’t know if this program really exists or not. But a reasonable person would come up with two conclusions:
1. Program exists… Well good for the Coast Guard. Bad for Coast Guard Congressional Affairs… If this program existed during the time of the hearings – why the hell didn’t they bring it up? It would have been at least one point in their favor – vice not knowing how many HBCU’s there are. If this LCDR was really engaged in this outreach at that time – then he sucks at his day job… and should have done a hell of a lot better to prep those two.
2. Program doesn’t exist or was recently created to appease the interest in CG Civil Rights program. Okay… I will admit, the Coast Guard hands out awards for some pretty bullsh*t things… I find it odd that no one before this ALCOAST has heard about this program before. If they just created this to say – see look what we’re doing – fine, that’s politics, and at least they’re trying something (may be a little too late but hey give them credit). But if this was recently created within the past few months – then you give the guy an award for it? That’s crap. If the program is all together made up… then that’s beyond stupid and frankly insulting to a whole bunch of people.
There is no inside knowledge here – this is just me watching this website for awhile and thinking to myself – why does this ALCOAST contradict a huge issue CGR has with the Civil Rights Program? And why is this the first time this outreach program is being touted? And finally, this person was in the office that is designed to prepare people for hearings on the hill and it never was mentioned as a talking point to use?
I’m not into conspiracies – but it just doesn’t add up.
Just Googled LCDR Watson’s name… and I found him to be a member of the National Naval Officers Association. Brief description of the organization is below.
“The National Naval Officers Association (NNOA) actively supports the Sea Services in recruiting, retaining, and developing the careers of minority officers. The NNOA provides professional development and mentoring for its members. The NNOA continues to establish and maintain a positive image of the Sea Services in minority communities and educational institutions.”
Now this seems to reflect the nature of what was said in the ALCOAST – although it is not a Coast Guard – nor his initiative. Truth in advertising?
Good research Mr. Bone Head (we really need a better pseudonym for you),
The Coast Guard has many members of the NNOA. We have no doubt that Lcdr. Watson does great work with that group as do many officers. However, that’s not what the ALCOAST advertised his “program” as.