T&T: USCG too-late esponse

[Jim Davey]

Without meaning to step on the toes of some very talented military people,
these Coast Guard situations are a case of "military think".  In their
absence, the higher ranks don't want the lower ranks doing anything that will
cause the higher ranks any embarrassment or cause any waves that might be
difficult to subdue; therefore, the lower ranks are firmly attached to a check
list so they can't "wing it", no matter how talented or well trained they
are.

Some years ago, a bomb laden vehicle crashed into a barracks in the Middle
East, killing a large number of U.S. servicemen.  The cause - the front gate
guard was trying to get permission to "take out" the vehicle.  What should
have been a hair trigger response because of the short distance from the road
to the building required permission from a higher rank.

I'm afraid I would much rather deal with a civilian 911 operator than a
military "lower rank" who is permanently fused to a non-thinking check list.
I'm amazed by what I hear these civilians do, dealing with some really
dangerous situations - especially dealing with children.  The Coast Guard side
of this isn't going to change as long as "military think" is involved.  If
you're really lucky, you might get an admiral passing through the radio room
at the time of your call - but I wouldn't count on it.

Jim on Jazz
Beaverton (near Toronto)
 > Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:31:33 -0700> From: rwp_48 at yahoo.com> To:
trawlers-and-trawlering at lists.samurai.com> CC: Truelove39 at aol.com> Subject:
T&T: USCG too-late esponse> > It seems to me that too often the CG doesn't
have anyone on hand to make> command decisions. Its pretty obvious by the
questions asked that the radio> operator is reading from the list of
questions, in order, as he/she was> trained to do. What they apparently aren't
trained to do is listen to the> answers and think about the proper course of
action. Sometimes a bit of> commom sense would go a long, long way.> About
this time last year, we were> anchored off the CG base in Cape May, staging to
run up the coast to Sandy> Hook and New York City. We left early in the
morning and were half way to> Atlantic Cty when we heard our friends on the
VHF calling the CG with a> medical emergency. A guest of theirs had dislocated
his hip and was in severe> pain. Their sailboat was anchored 50-100 yds. off
the CG dock where we had> spent the night together. The CG went through the
list of questions and asked> for John's position repeatedly. He explained
where he was. He gave his> Lat/Lon coordinates and finally, out of
desparation, asked the young man to> look out the window to the end of the
dock where he would see the guy on the> pretty blue sailboat waving at him!
The CG wanted desparately to dispatch a> small boat from Atlantic City when
all John was hoping for was an an ambulance> and permission so he could come
along-side the dock and they could help take> his> guest off the boat and
transport him to the hospital. Out of disgust he> cancelled the call and took
the boat to Utches Marina, walked down the dock to> the nearest pay phone and
called the ambulance himself! > Regards,> Randy> Pickelmann> MORNING STAR>
lying in Clearwater, FL> www.morningstar.talkspot.com>
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