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SeaPower Magazine
Navy League of the United States
July 2010 - Page 6

Coast Guard Auxiliary is a Force Multiplier

I read with interest your article in the June 2010 Seapower magazine. I felt the questions were important questions to ask, but alas you missed, maybe not in your Q & A, but needless to say very important assets most times overlooked.

I quote from the introduction, third paragraph, "Papp now leads a force of 42,000 active-duty and 7,000 civilian personnel..." The Coast Guard is made up of four different components of people, all having a distinct role to play in the success of the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard web site states that there are 38,000 (or 42,000 depending on which page you look at) 8,000 Reservists and an additional 35,000 Auxiliarists (there are currently 30,482 active Auxiliarists).

While the Reservists provide specialized services for the nation (sic, Coast Guard) and the ability to supplement Active Duty in the full range of their services, the Auxiliary provides a force-multiplier that when used correctly, money can't buy.

The Auxiliary and its diverse workforce of working and retired Americans from all walks of life bring such a broad based educational and job-force experience level that can tackle almost any problem.

D-Day is June 6th, and on that day and the days the followed the diversity of the Armed Forces enabled our men to think, improvise, create and implement plans, equipment, and strategies that made the landings in Normandy the ultimate success that it was.

The USCG Auxiliarists have the ability to provide such similar types of energy to the Coast Guard and our nation. The role of the Auxiliarist is ever expanding, the jobs that it performs for the Coast Guard is broader than ever before. The Return on Investment (cost to manage the program versus any litmus test for productivity one can devise) for the nation is un-paralleled.

The Auxiliary can never replace active-duty or reserve billets, nor is it designed to do so. It can add for a very short-term additional manpower in crises, and continue to provide the supplementmental support and the day to day work in Recreational Boating Safety that has been its mission set since inception.

The USCG Auxiliary was founded in 1939 by an Act of Congress as the USCG Reserves and re-designated the Auxiliary in 1941 and its members donate millions of hours of support for Coast Guard missions every year.

I wish ADM Papp all the best as he assumes the role Commandant of the Coast Guard in these turberlent times.

Wayne Spivak
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary
Bellmore, New York