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Cutter service is the heart and soul of the Coast Guard's storied legacy- so why are today's junior officers moving shoreside?
The U.S. Coast Guard has dramatically changed since Alexander Hamilton first floated the concept of the Revenue Cutter Service in the Federalist Papers. Since then, from Aztec shores to Arctic zones, Coast Guard cutters have enforced U.S. law at sea, fought in every American war, and conducted countless epic rescues. For nearly 225 years, cuttermen fundamentally formed the Coast Guard's stellar reputation. However, within the service, the sharp skills of the "career cuttermen" (an increasingly rare cadre of officers who serve at sea as their primary career specialty up to the 0-5/0-6 level) are becoming organizationally atrophied while sectors and shoreside law enforcement gain local sea control in waters historically controlled by cutters. Once universally prized for demonstrating initiative and resourcefulness in the face of difficult atsea decisions, career cuttermen are becoming the dullest knife in the shoreside detailer's drawer.
Consequently, the Coast Guard faces a future seagoing leadership crisis as junior officers (JOs) detect the decreasing utility of career cuttermen. Many JOs are trending away from serving at sea in favor of the stability and enhanced opportunities afforded shoreside. Without an immediate course change, the Coast Guard's officer corps will become fundamentally detached from the underpinnings of more than two centuries of seagoing service tradition, degrading the service's unique ability to remain "Always Ready." In order to retain a highcaliber cutterman worth his or her salt, the Coast Guard should immediately integrate career cuttermen within shoreside sector-leadership positions, strengthen cutter law-enforcement programs, and more appropriately recognize the challenges of serving at sea.
JOs of today smartly analyze the risks of serving on board a cutter vs. the rewards. They concern themselves with career and quality-of-life ambitions such as a sense of organizational importance, opportunities for physical and mental fitness, healthy diets, and maintaining personal and professional relationships. Using those criteria, keeping a high-quality JO on an afloat career path while spending nearly 200 days away from home port aboard a lead dust-laden cutter is futile when compared to the promotability and career opportunities now provided to shoreside officers. While serving on a Coast Guard cutter, a JO can expect a rigorous qualification...