By Calvin Biesecker
In his first State of the Coast Guard address, Commandant Adm. Bob Papp yesterday said it is no longer enough for Coast Guard personnel just to be qualified in their respective duties, they have to be proficient.
In the past two years the Coast Guard has experience an “unprecedented” spate of aviation and boat related accidents, Papp said.
“It’s unacceptable,” he said. “And we’ve got to do something about it.”
Papp said the fact that the service’s fleet of assets is aging isn’t to blame for the loss of 14 aviators in two years, the loss of a Maritime Safety and Security Team member, and a number of boat accidents.
“For over two centuries, in spite of often old and obsolete equipment, the strength of our service has been our incredibly talented and professional people,” Papp said. “I fear that our focus on reorganization and expanding missions post-9/11 have taken the edge off our skills across the service, and particularly our seamanship and airmanship skills. In many cases, the pace of change and operations has placed our focus on simply training to a level of basic qualification.”
Basic qualification is an important step but is still just a “minimum standard,” Papp said.
The Coast Guard needs to “train to proficiency and retain proficiency,” he said.
Papp said he has directed the Coast Guard’s personnel staffs to work with the service’s Force Readiness Command on making sure the resources and incentives are there for personnel to become and stay proficient.
He also said that to become proficient may mean paring the service’s activities and capabilities that have been added to its mission set post-9/11. Papp said he expects Coast Guard leaders to show daily flexibility in how they “allocate their finite resources across their mission sets.”
Papp also reiterated his call for sustained recapitalization of the Coast Guard’s air, sea and shore-based assets (Defense Daily, Jan. 13). Otherwise, he said, the service will not be able to maintain acceptable readiness levels to perform its missions.