BOSTON — While the
U.S. Coast Guard is the smallest of the nation’s armed forces, it’s the
largest component of the Department of Homeland Security, and
across-the-board federal budget cuts known as sequestration will cut
deep into its operations.
Effects In Mass.
Joint Base Cape
Cod serves an area that stretches along the coast from the Canadian
border to southern New Jersey. In an average year, these guardsman will
save 58 lives at sea. But these days the Coast Guard also has to save
money. Nationally, the sequester cut $350 million this year from the
Coast Guard’s $8 billion budget.
“In general, what the sequester
has done for the Coast Guard is it has caused us to reduce our
day-to-day operations by about 25 percent,” said U.S. Coast Guard
Commandant Adm. Robert Papp.
That’s
because the Coast Guard can’t touch most of its fixed expenses,
including buildings, infrastructure and the biggest item, salaries. Pay
for the 42,000 guardsmen and 8,000 civilians is off limits. That leaves
operations.
Papp says he’s letting officers on the ground, sea and air decide what goes and what stays.
“All
those commanders are closer to the action, they’re closer to the
activities, they understand the threats and challenges much better than I
do,” Adm. Papp said. “So I give them the broad guidance, which we call
‘commander’s intent,’ then it’s their job as leaders to exercise
judgment in carrying out those missions.”
Search And Rescue Still A Top Priority
Cmdr.
David Husted, operations officer at Joint Base Cape Cod, is head of the
Coast Guard’s mini air force located near Falmouth. Those who fly also
fix their aircraft, and on the day I visited, crew members were hanging
by bungee cords repairing part of a wing.
“If my phone rang right
now, or the search and rescue alarm went off, you would see probably
four of these guys get down as quickly as they can and go grab their
gear and go to the aircraft outside that’s ready to go fly,” Cmdr.
Husted explained.
But they’re flying less. Sequestration means no
more public air shows or holiday demonstrations, fewer maritime and
border surveillance missions or flights to check on vessels that might
be carrying drugs. One Coast Guard admiral estimates an extra $1 billion
in illegal drugs will make its way to our shores because of the
sequester.
But for Cmdr. Husted, search and rescue is still the top priority.
“We’re focusing on those capabilities that are going to save lives,” he said.
On
Cape Cod, pilots and their crews will bear most of the budget cuts.
Coast Guard aviators will get 50 fewer hours in the air each year.
“They’ll
still be trained in all the mission sets, they just won’t be as
experienced,” Husted said. “Instead of having three-hour training
flights, I now do two-hour training flights. Flying is a perishable
skill. If you don’t do it frequently enough you’re not as proficient at
it. So the pilot’s are still flying as frequently as they would in the
past, they’re just not flying for as long.”
Lt. Daniel Clooney,
who has been at this air station for about a year and flying for about
seven months, hopes to make the Coast Guard his career. But for young
pilots, cuts in flight hours means a slower climb up the ranks.
“This
past week I flew four times. The week before that it was three times.
So I’m still flying, but they’ll shorten the amount of time with our
patrols,” Lt. Clooney said. “But I try to make the most out of every
flight, every little flight hour. I’m jumping at the chance to get it,
and I’m trying to be as productive as I can to become the most
proficient at the aircraft.”
A Decade Of Cuts
This
is just the first year of sequestration, a decade-long period of budget
cuts. Adm. Papp fears that in the future he’ll have to cut guardsmen and
admit fewer students to the service academy.
“My biggest concern
is we send young people, you know, in their early 20s, out in
helicopters, aircraft, ships and boats in the middle of the night in the
worst of weather, and we want them to be properly prepared and trained
to take on those dangerous missions,” Papp said.
Papp is hoping
for the best, but in the tradition of the Coast Guard’s motto, “semper
paratus” or “always ready,” he is preparing for the worst.
To
buffer the impact of sequestration in future years, Papp is eyeing one
of the Coast Guard’s biggest-ticket items: its new Ocean Sentry
aircraft. They’re two times more fuel efficient than the planes they
replace, but each costs almost $40 million. So Adm. Papp is rethinking
the service’s $3 billion contract with European manufacturer Airbus, and
he’s taking advantage of how the sequester is affecting the U.S. Air
Force.
Because of the cuts, it seems the Air Force can’t afford
to fly planes it recently purchased and it’s offering them for free.
Adm. Papp is first in line.
“If you can get aircraft for free and
they are brand new you save a lot in your life-cycle costs and it’s a
very intriguing, attractive deal for me,” Adm. Papp said.
It’s
not a done deal yet, but it could help keep the Coast Guard afloat
during hard times — harkening back to the days it began as a way to fund
a young, bankrupt nation. Originally known as the Revenue Cutter
Service, it was created to collect taxes from commercial shippers and
discourage smuggling.
“There is a bit of irony in fact that there
is a cut in revenue,” Adm. Papp said. “You know, the revenue produced
by the Revenue Cutter Service and the Customs Department actually funded
our federal government almost all the way up to the first World War.”
Then
Congress passed the federal income tax, but these days that’s not
enough to float the boat, and the Coast Guard — like the rest of the
federal government — is struggling to navigate a sea of red ink.
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