Recruiting Shortfall Means Coast Guard ‘Can’t Crew All Our Ships,’ Says Vice Commandant
John Grady
August 8, 2024 10:33 AM
Coming up short 10 percent of its required enlisted force means the Coast Guard “can’t crew all our ships” and has had to “temporarily shutter some of our smaller stations,” the vice commandant said Wednesday.
Adm. Kevin Lunday, speaking at the Brookings Institution, added, “We had to lay up three of our major cutters because we don’t have enough enlisted personnel to crew them.” Since the action, the service has shifted funds from other parts of the budget to bolster recruiting and retention.
He described the “controlled parts exchanged,” borrowing from another vessel to get a cutter underway, as “the fancy term for cannibalization.” If it continues over time, “you’re eating your readiness.”
Lunday later added that USCGC Healy (WAGB-20) had an engine room fire that caused it to return to port for repair this year. The medium icebreaker “had just begun her summer patrol” in the Arctic. Repair will prove difficult because “much of the machinery aboard is antiquated” and parts may no longer be available.
https://news.usni.org/2024/08/08/recuriting-shortfall-means-coast-guard-cant-crew-all-our-ships-says-vice-commandant
