Best job in the world?

[BMCS Shawn Vredenburg]

Okay Chiefs. My Station did a great SAR case a month ago or so and I sent some folks an E-mail with the newspaper articles. As I often do, I ended the E-mail with a statement that I, as an Officer in Charge of a Small Boat Station, have the best job in the world.

A BM1 who used to work for me sent me the following reply. This BM1 was, and I'm sure still is, a stellar performer who never hesitated to appropriately speak their mind. I've known this BM1 to overcome some tremendous adversity with little whining and complaining. I personally give what this BM1 says great credence and would love to have them work for me again.

Please read the following E-mail and let me know what you think. Is this a fluke? Is this the ship from hell? Is this what we Chiefs are telling our people? Is this how things really are?


From:
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2004 8:56 AM
To: Vredenburg, Shawn SCPO
Subject: Your e-mails

Hi Senior Chief,
Thanks for your e-mails. I have a comment on them, though. Yes, YOU do have the best job in the world. However most of the Coast Guard wouldn't agree that this is the best job in the world. Not anymore. Not when Homeland Security is the primary mission, and NOT saving lives, when you can't leave an HIV for SAR incase someone trys to blow it up.
When a cutters crew who haven't been in homeport for more than 11 days in 4 or 5 months are told by a Master Chief that the Coast Guard doesn't care about them, it's not a great job. When a new Group Commander tells the crew that it's mission first, people last and when personnel can't take leave because there aren't enough qualified people to go around, it's not a great job. School's are killing units because there is nothing to convince them to stay and strike a rate. Then if you do get someone from school, they don't really know anything. There is too much to do and not enough people or resources to do it.
********* ******** came for our annual training. It's really no wonder that the suicide rate and work place violence is on the rise in the Coast Guard, what do they expect? So I disagree whole-heartedly that this is the greatest job in the world.
Take Care, Senior
Say Hello to Tammy
BM1 **********
USCGC ******

[BMCM Deane Smith]

I read this email a couple of times to try and figure out what was going on with this BM1.

I think I've figured it out. It sounds like this BM1 is working for a CO/OINC who puts "Completion of the Mission" above everything else. Or, the Cutters OPCON is doing this. Either way, the BM1's CO/OINC needs to take a round-turn on this issue. If there is a degredation in the mission because of these "People/Resource" type issues, someone needs to intervene and get things back on track.

Yes, MHS has a greater emphasis today than 3 years ago. But, SAR & MHS are supposed to be 1 & 1A, not 1 & 2. They are suppose to be on equal ground.



Also, just for the record, a WLR is the best job in the CG!

[DCCS Keith Wilbee]

I would have to agree somewhat that this might not be the best job in the world. If I were left to me. I wouldnt have a job, Id own a small business, and not work for anyone, but myself, then eventually just fade off to black.
Seems like this BM1 has been really frustrated. Most likely operations are heavy, for that unit. At times almost all units go through there stretches of hard work, long hours, bad personalities, bad leaders, sometimes it gets to be pretty overwhelming. What are our junior members to do. Vent, Vent, Vent. I have a very select group that I vent to. Then it all comes full circle. Over everything else, the mission still has to get done. Usually there will be time for leave, maybe not right this second, but you will get it. Almost sixteen years of service, I missed both of my daughters first birthdays, the operations always came first. I cant get those back. And Im still a proud member of this organization. Seems like this BM1 has it pretty rough right now it seems, but I do believe it will get better. I have a friend that has it rough right now, he's in Iraq. 14 to 16 hour days for this service. And still proud to be a member. Life goes on. Seems like members go through these tough times, the really good ones accept the responsibilty and still give 100 %, and become better. Sometimes the resentments and anger cloud the light at the end of the tunnel, or the dock in which we pull in, or the runway we land on.

[BMCS Dennis Endicott ret]

I don't think any of us believe that this represents the CG today. Sounds like the BM1 is going thru a bad stretch. We've all been there and done that. He could probably use some direct mentoring, though, to get him thru. If he's the hard-charger that you described, we don't want this to effect his career decisions, or to effect how he's mentoring his subordinates.

A great performer who has become disillusioned has much more impact on morale, than a low level performer conducting business as usual. Maybe you could contact the ship's Chief's Mess and do that chief-to-chief thing.

[BMC Dan Certa]

Been there not very long ago. I've felt the same way. I had no respect for my boss because in my opinion they did not understand the mission at the 'tip of the spear' and how the crew felt about his leadership. Almost everything come down to good two-way communications. Sometimes these situations can be resolved by a good sit-down discussion, which any 1st Class deserves to get from the boss. The BM1 should talk it up the chain of command. PERSMAN 4.F.1.b spells out the causes for Relief of command (RFC): Morale, good order & discipline, and/or mission performance. In that order. So I would dissagree that in the 'big scheme of things' the mission always comes first. Train, Maintain, & Operate? Rediness, People, & Stewardship? The BM1 sounds like that 'Big SAR Dog' who was put on a leash at a security zone. Having served at a MSST, I saw this attitude. It's difficult for some to change the way they think about things. Defense of Government or High Value Property over SAR is a tough concept for SAR Coxswains. No one, however, has died as a result of a CG asset not being released from a security zone. It's just the 'idea' of it that bugs them. Severe juniorority at the middle-management level does not help the situation either. It's tough out here, but what a great time in history to be a Chief! There is a lot of work that needs to get done. It's going to be hard, but we have to remember: Our country IS at war.

[BMCM Stuart S. Slesh]

I'll agree with Dennis on that one. You should contact their mess for a friendly WTF. If the Master Chief and Group Commander actually said those things rather than just imply them, then that unit is a climate assessment waiting to happen. If the unit is able to change the attitude of your hard charger....it won't be long before there are not enough personnel left to care whether or not the mission is successful. Change is inevitable. Tell the BM1 if he is not strong enough to change the attitudes of the people at the unit, make sure he retains enough strenghth to ensure that they don't change his.

[BMC Kerry Wagoner]

Any CO/OIC who puts the completion of the mission over everything else needs to be removed. Without training and maintenance, the mission would never even be undertaken, or if it was, it should not be. All too often I have heard this same bantering from those who consider the mission above all others. Someone who believes this is just asking for something very bad to happen.

Train, maintain.......then operate. They are in that order for a reason. :)

[BMCM Stuart S. Slesh]

And what mission do you put first. The last thing I was told at my COC by my new Co was " Take care of your people". Didn't even mention the cutter. Wasn't retention one of our missions? Isn't it harder to retain someone that's miserable?

[BMCS Jim Madsen]

I feel for the BM1. Especially if the MC and CO are saying the things he says they are. IF so, then there is a problem that should be addressed. That is why there is a CMC. That being said, a cutter is NOT a station, which is not an ANT, or Buoy Tender, WLR, WLIC.... They all have different priorities. He needs to understand that. If he does, and can get himself to give 100%, then when he leaves tour complete or advances to Chief, he will have a good feeling about what he has done, whether he liked it or not. I have "been there and done that", so I know. You don't have to like what you are doing to feel good about the job that you do.
BTW, I always thought that a specific WLIC was the best job. Then I found the best little secret in the Coast Guard right here.

[BMCM Stuart S. Slesh]

The best thing about the CG is that it offers the best job in the world to almost everyone, depending on your taste. Some of us would have to be dragged to a station, others forced to sea. Some bleed AtoN and other Love LE. The range in jobs is only exceeded by their possible locations. You have people who would love Alaska and hate Florida and vice versa. East coast, West coast, Gulf coast, INCONUS, OUTCONUS, the CG has it all. We are stationed we other people go to vaction. One problem that we face is with all of this diversity,...you can't please all ther people all the time. You might give someone their ideal job in the wrong area, ideal area and undesireable job. The people who see the glass half full will make the best of what they're given. The glass half empty people will drag others down with them because they didn't get exactly what they wanted, and life just isn't fair.

And just to shed some light and correct one subject that the BM1 touched on........The suicide/workplace violence on the rise ? I don't think that the historical numbers would agree with that. And the studies being done are showing alcohol abuse and poor personal relationships to be the leading factors in both. You can try to argue that the OPTEMPO leads to the alcohol abuse and relationship problems but you don't have the research to back that up. Not trying to say, "Look at alcohol it's sooooo evil", but find a suicide attempt where it wasn't a factor, find domestic or workplace violence were it wasn't involved. Let's look for blame where blame is due, suicide/workplace violence is both ashore and afloat, east and west coast, in and out of conus, male and female. It is around during heightned optempos and lulls. It goes deeper than I hate my job, my CO doesn't care, the Chief yelled at me. And to allow people to claim that it doesn't, isn't going to fix the problem, or help anyone.

[BMCS Shawn Vredenburg]

Stu: Suicide is on the rise across the board for all of the armed forces. This is particularly true for the folks deployed to the middle east, but also in the Coast Guard. D1 had at least one suicide and one suicide attempt last month (October) alone. That's anecdotal evidence. If you want the numbers, call the suicide preventions guru at your ISC.

Of the Coast Guard suicide attempts I have been close (2 of them) to, none have involved alcohol. Both of the non-Coast Guard suicide attempts I have been close to involved alcohol (and/or other substances).

[BMCM Stuart S. Slesh]

Just went through the D1 suicide prevention training at the unit, and listened to the speaker from the safety stand down at another. That's where I getting my information from. They both said the the numbers are not historically on the rise and that alcohol and relationship problems are the leading components in CG cases. October was a bad month, hence the safety stand down, but historically we're not seeing any big changes, that's what I'm being told. That's also the way I've seen it in my career. I'm prior service Army and my unit in Germany had the highest suicide rate in all of Europe. In all of the cases I saw there, drugs and alcohol played a major role. Same in my personal life, drugs and alcohol allow you to do things that you wouldn't do normally do if you were thinking clearly. They don't make you do them, but they do allow it. And again, people don't feel that hopeless, that powerless over their life, that life isn't worth living, based on the amount of time they have to spend at work. Look that those two cases in D1, where were they stationed ? Do you really think that the stress of their job caused them to attempt to take their life ? Most people have a feeling of being alone, unloved, unwanted, unneeded.........not over worked or tired.
What was the cause found in the two CG cases that you saw ? Their situation had to be dire to kill themselves sober.

[BMCS Dennis Endicott ret]

"Their situation had to be dire to kill themselves sober."

No. I've had the same training as the rest of you, and some up close and personal experiences with suicide in the CG, and I can tell you that dire circumstances and/or alcohol were never a factor.

I imagine that the D1 lecturer (and maybe the CG in general) placed too much importance on the fact that they were drinking prior to the act. That's akin to saying that most suicides leave notes, so note-writing must cause suicides. Taking a drink is just another step in the direction that they're already heading.

And, although the reasons were clear and compelling to the individual, they never made sense to anyone else.

[BMCM Stuart S. Slesh]

dire circumstances and/or alcohol were never a factor.

Never knew anyone say "life is just great, I think I'll kill myself." I think that the situation was always dire to the individual.

And the COMDT listed alcohol, poor personal relationships, and indebtiness as the top three factor in the case study during our last all hands meeting. And he assured us that the number was not on the rise.

As I said, I don't think alcohol "made" anyone kills themselves. But drinking does allow you to do things that you normally would not.

[BMCS Jim Madsen]

I agree with Stuart. I doubt that alcohol is the "reason" why an individual kills himself, but rather it provides the "liquid courage" that is may take someone to complete the job. More than likely there are underlying issues that have not been dealt with. Alcohol simply intinsifies the feelings that one already has. It is a depressant that clouds the mind. I have seen many people (including myself) do things that they would not normally do as a result of a drink. Back to the thread... Best job in the world? Not the duty driver, thats for sure. :D