- Joined
- Nov 25, 2007
- Messages
- 9,295
I talked to an old co-worker the other day from Coast Guard Headquarters. Cuts are rumored to be far bigger than the "bad" they were planning for. From what I heard, those cuts, for the Coast Guard, are starting at $600 million.
"That's not much LITS, in DOD." you say. Well, the Coast Guard's entire budget is under $9 billion, so $600 million to start is a huge chunk. Offices are cutting travel but 40% or more. With the scheduled decommission of the 12 High Endurance Cutters (378') the Coast Guard was planning to replace with 8 National Security Cutters (418'), it looks now like possibly as low as 4 will be built.
Yes, that's correct, the world's 6th largest navy, and one of the oldest, will replace 12 cutters with 4, to patrol 96,000 sq. miles of coastline and inland waterways. Of course, that doesn't even consider the 14 210' Medium Endurance Cutters that were commissioned from 1964-1969. There isn't even a replacement planned for those cutters (which just went through their SECOND mid-life.)
And I haven't even mentioned ICE BREAKERS!
Hiring freeze for all new or unfilled positions.
Yes, the Coast Guard is hurting. Maybe less $2 billion B-2s would have helped keep a reasonable budget for the Coast Guard.
"That's not much LITS, in DOD." you say. Well, the Coast Guard's entire budget is under $9 billion, so $600 million to start is a huge chunk. Offices are cutting travel but 40% or more. With the scheduled decommission of the 12 High Endurance Cutters (378') the Coast Guard was planning to replace with 8 National Security Cutters (418'), it looks now like possibly as low as 4 will be built.
Yes, that's correct, the world's 6th largest navy, and one of the oldest, will replace 12 cutters with 4, to patrol 96,000 sq. miles of coastline and inland waterways. Of course, that doesn't even consider the 14 210' Medium Endurance Cutters that were commissioned from 1964-1969. There isn't even a replacement planned for those cutters (which just went through their SECOND mid-life.)
And I haven't even mentioned ICE BREAKERS!
Hiring freeze for all new or unfilled positions.
Yes, the Coast Guard is hurting. Maybe less $2 billion B-2s would have helped keep a reasonable budget for the Coast Guard.