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The U.S. Coast Guard fosters a culture of leadership and responsibility. It works hard to ensure that service members receive education and on-the-job support and training to excel in their careers while maintaining balanced personal lives. In 2005 the agency was ranked in the top-ten list of best federal employers by Washingtonian magazine.
Since 9/11 the importance of mari-time security to the country has come to the forefront, says Captain Steve Vanderplas. As a result, career opportunities are vast and exciting, and an immense amount of trust is placed in younger service members. "We are the only federal agency that is truly a nationwide first responder. When something bad happens anywhere, whether it's a hurricane like Katrina, oil spills, or even a shipwreck, the Coast Guard is almost always the first federal agency there," Vanderplas says.
New technical graduates can fill a variety of roles in areas that include aeronautical, civil, naval, ocean and electrical engineering, telecom, industrial management, materials management and information technology. "An entry-level tour in any of these would directly support Coast Guard operations," notes Vanderplas.
Many engineers serve aboard CG vessels at sea. Other engineers are involved in roles that combine support with work on the front lines. For example, civil engineers were crucial after Hurricane Katrina in the rebuilding of Coast Guard bases and facilities on the Gulf Coast.
Some Coast Guard members work in the agency's R&D center in Groton, CT, where about twenty PhDs are currently engaged in research projects. New technical development programs include the integrated Deepwater system, which entails improving the capabilities of the agency's fleet.
Naval and mechanical engineers outfit vessels with state-of-the-art command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. "A terrific amount of system information is required just for us all to work together. We continue to need a lot of design and trouble-shooting work," says Vanderplas.
The Coast Guard also seeks people who are fluent in other languages. "Much of what we do, such as rescue and recovery in places like the Caribbean, requires people who speak Spanish."
Engineers and IT professionals in the Coast Guard get leadership experience and training earlier than they would in the civilian arena, he notes. They can go to Officer Candidate School (OCS), a seventeen-week course that teaches general military procedures and practices and comes with a three-year service commitment. Candidates who already have a degree in a field needed by the Coast Guard can go to Direct Commission Officer School (DCOS), which is three to five weeks long. Most direct commissions also require three years of service, but 80 percent stay longer, Vanderplas says.
In fiscal year 2006, 16 percent of OCS graduates were minorities, as were a healthy proportion of the direct-commission officers.
To recruit minorities the Coast Guard offers a college student pre-commissioning initiative, a scholarship program for sophomores at historically black colleges and universities, schools that belong to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, or schools with at least 25 percent minority representation. Some of the targeted institutions include Spellman, Morehouse and Clark Atlanta University. Students must be younger than age twenty-seven to participate and have U.S. citizenship. They receive leadership training, as well as full tuition and fees, textbooks, salary and medical insurance. The program guarantees training at OCS following college graduation.
There is plenty of personal support for newly commissioned officers. They can participate in a formal mentoring program and be matched with other employees with similar interests or concerns. Vanderplas is a mentor, and he made sure that he connected with someone who had issues about balancing work with family because he himself has a large family.
The Coast Guard, in fact, has a formal work/life program. "We have a culture that encourages staff to balance their professional and personal lives," Vanderplas says. "We want our officers to thrive long-term, so we tend to be understanding when they need extra time to fulfill family responsibilities, as long as mission requirements can be met."
Additionally, there is opportunity to obtain an advanced degree, as the Coast Guard provides an allowance for staff to go to school full time. They must serve at least one year to become eligible. Under this arrangement, "Your full-time duty is to go to school, while the Coast Guard pays your tuition and you continue to accrue time toward promotion and retirement. Afterward you're obligated to continue service," explains Vanderplas.
More than two-thirds of higher-level officers now have advanced degrees, most courtesy of the agency. The Coast Guard also offers tuition assistance for officers who want to pursue degrees in their off-duty hours without incurring as long an obligation for continued service.
"It's an exciting time to be in the Coast Guard. We are front and center for one of the biggest challenges our country has ever faced: homeland security. For young people who have acquired technical skills, there are a lot of challenges here," Vanderplas says, adding with a chuckle, "Frankly I'm a little jealous of our junior officers, who have some great opportunities available to them."
D/C
U.S. Coast Guard
http://www.uscg.mil
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Headquarters: |
Washington, DC |
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Employees: |
39,000 active duty |
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Budget: |
$8.4 billion in FY 2007 |
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Business: |
A military maritime service and one of the nation's five armed services. Mission is to protect the public, the environment and U.S. economic interests in the nation's ports and waterways, along the coast, on international waters, or in any maritime region as required to support national security |
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