Allen calls for bigger, nimbler Coast Guard

[unhappycamper]

Allen calls for bigger, nimbler Coast Guard
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 15, 2008 6:42:46 EST

The Coast Guard should leave behind its unofficial motto, “do more with less,” Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen said Thursday. The lifesaving service not only needs its new Deepwater fleet of vessels and aircraft, Allen said, but it also needs more Coast Guardsmen to operate them.

In his annual State of the Coast Guard address, delivered at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Allen reiterated his recent theme of “honoring the past, but not operating in it,” by invoking the Coast Guard’s 19th and 20th century forebears, its aging fleet — the average age of its cutters is 35 years — and remarking that the size of its force is approximately the same as when he graduated from the Coast Guard Academy 37 years ago — and before.

“There is a limited ability to accomplish your missions when your end strength hasn’t changed in 50 years,” Allen said. “In an era of persistent conflict, there’s a new level of normalcy just to maintain operations around the world. I’m not sure we’ve ever adjusted for what the new normalcy is post-9/11.”

He repeated another phrase — in reference to the construction project in Southeast Washington near Coast Guard Headquarters — and asked if Americans wanted a lifesaving service so small everyone in it could fit inside the new Washington Nationals stadium.

(He was speaking rhetorically: The as-yet-unnamed Nationals stadium has a capacity of 41,222, according to team information, and the Coast Guard 2008 Posture Statement lists its active-duty force as being 41,873.)


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/coastguard_allen_speech_080214w/



uhc comment: The Coast Guard screwed the pooch on the Deepwater program and are now on a propaganda push for more hardware. It's unclear if the $$$ are included in the 2009 $705,700,000,000 military budget or in the $30,000,000,000 requested for "unfunded requirements."

Previous threads on Allen's propaganda tour -->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=11029
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=11092
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=11213