Admiral Allen delivers State of the Coast Guard address
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Written by: Christopher Lagan
Commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Thad W. Allen, answers questions at the State of the Coast Guard address at the National Press Club. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Victoria Bonk-Meyers)
Yesterday, Admiral Allen delivered his final State of the Coast Guard address as Commandant of the Coast Guard at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. During his speech, he recognized the role Guardians played (and continue to play) in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake while addressing the challenges of operating the world’s largest first response agency in a constrained budget environment and the need to modernize the aging fleet of America’s oldest seagoing service.
“So what is the state of the Coast Guard? In two words: ready and resilient,” said Allen. “We are ready and resilient. We demonstrated that in the view of the entire world in the first hours and days following the Haitian earthquake. We were there first because our operational forces and command and control structure are agile and flexible. Authority to move forces is delegated outside our headquarters, so our field commanders can act immediately. Our forces are working hard to sustain current operations, maintaining cutters until our new ones are delivered.”
Here are some excerpts from Admiral Allen’s remarks.
Commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Thad W. Allen poses for a photo with members from Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk. The members were recognized at the State of the Coast Guard for the role during the Haiti relief operations. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Victoria Bonk-Meyers)
On Haiti
Within 24 hours, Coast Guard men and women created the art of the possible where none seemed to exist. Before any knew how many were hurt, hundreds of injured Haitians were thanking our people for providing lifesaving first aid.
…
By January 25th, we had five cutters in the immediate area, and nearly 900 Coast Guard people in theater. To date, we have evacuated nearly 1,200 American citizens, conducted 250 medical evacuations, and delivered over 700 responders to Port-au-Prince, pretty amazing for an organization whose entire active duty workforce could fit into National Stadium.
On the budget
As Commandant, I supported this budget as it has provided me the flexibility, and the Coast Guard the flexibility, to continue our recapitalization needs. Collectively, the personnel reduction decommission unit and recapitalizing funding reflect hard choices, choices that best position the Coast Guard to optimize our performance and protect the nation within the funding provided and still replace aging cutters and aircraft. Our intent is to manage current operations as funded in order to sustain our recapitalization program. The President’s budget does this. This represents the best way forward in a constrained funding level.
Commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Thad W. Allen and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard, Charles "Skip" Bowen (right) pose for a photo with members from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla. The members were recognized at the State of the Coast Guard for the role during the Haiti relief operations. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Victoria Bonk-Meyers)
On modernization
Our recent experience and support of Haiti response, relief and recovery operations is instructive here. As I have noted in the past, the Coast Guard operates one of the oldest fleets in the world. No amount of maintenance can outpace the ravages of age. Here’s what happened behind the scenes. Of the 12 major cutters assigned to Haiti relief operations, 10, or 83 percent, suffered severe emission affecting casualties. Two were forced to return to port for emergency repairs, and one proceeded to an emergency dry dock. We also had to divert air resources away from evacuation efforts to deliver repair parts. This process was coordinated flawlessly through our new logistics structure, including the creation of a forward deployed logistics structure at Guantanamo Bay. The response was a triumph for our new mission support organization, but underscored the condition of our fleet.
I would like to tell you that we over-extended because of the compelling nature of the mission in Haiti. The fact is, we will always, always, divert and respond. We will take every resource we have and throw it at the problem. The larger issue is that the condition of the cutters that responded is indicative of the overall readiness of the fleet. The average age of our high endurance cutters is over 41 years compared to 14 years for a Navy ship. The condition of our fleet continues to deteriorate, putting our crews at risk, jeopardizing our ability to do the job. That’s why we must address future readiness, as we have in the President’s budget.
Click here for the full transcript of Admiral Allen’s State of the Coast Guard address or click here to watch video of the address in it’s entirety.
For more on Coast Guard operations in response to the Haiti earthquake, click here.
Comments
Leave a Comment
We welcome your comments on postings at all Coast Guard sites/journals. These are sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard to provide a forum to talk about our work providing maritime safety, security and stewardship for the American people to secure the homeland, save lives and property, protect the environment, and promote economic prosperity.
The information provided is for public information only and is not a distress communication channel. People in an emergency and in need of Coast Guard assistance should use VHF-FM Channel 16 (156.8 MHz), dial 911, or call their nearest Coast Guard unit.
All comments submitted are moderated. The Coast Guard retains the discretion to determine which comments it will post and which it will not. We expect all contributors to be respectful. We will not post comments that contain personal attacks of any kind; refer to Coast Guard or other employees by name; contain offensive terms that target specific ethnic or racial groups, or contain vulgar language. We will also not post comments that are spam, are clearly off topic, or that promote services or products.
The U.S. Coast Guard disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from any comments posted on this page. This forum may not be used for the submission of any claim, demand, informal or formal complaint, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notice or process, or for the exhaustion of any legal and/or administrative remedy.
If you have specific questions regarding a U.S. Coast Guard program that involves details you do not wish to share publicly please contact the program point of contact listed at http://www.uscg.mil/global/mail/
The U.S. Coast Guard will not collect or retain Personally Identifiable Information unless you voluntarily provide it to us. To view the U.S. Coast Guards Privacy Policy, please visit: http://www.uscg.mil/global/disclaim.asp
Please note: Anonymous comments have been disabled for this journal. It is preferred that you use your real name when posting a comment. WE WILL POST THE NAME YOU ENTER WHEN YOU SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT. Also, you are welcome to use Open ID or other user technologies that may be available.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by uscoastguard: Admiral Allen delivers State of the Coast Guard Address http://tinyurl.com/ylqx9gg #uscg #sotcg…
[...] the entire speech from Adm. Thad Allen’s address on Friday, Feb. 12, at the National Press Club in Washington, [...]
[...] Commandant discussed the current budget environment and the FY2011 budget request during his annual State of the Coast Guard address and a blogger’s [...]
[...] years old, compared to 14 years for the average Navy ship. The fleet’s deteriorating condition, in the words of the Coast Guard commandant,Adm. Thad Allen, is “putting our crews at risk, jeopardizing the ability to do our [...]
[...] Elias Gomez of the Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk (who also recognized at Admiral Allen’s final State of the Coast Guard) and Electronics Technician First Class Marcel Leroy of Maritime Safety and Security Team 91114 [...]
Good Post. Thank you.