Reality Check: Still Doing More with Less

A busy week highlights the many and varied missions of the U.S. Coast Guard and also serves as a stark reminder that while it is sometimes easy to find fault with the nation’s fifth uniformed, military branch, it is also important to understand the breadth of its responsibilities.

Tasked with coming up with (interesting and meaningful) ideas for 52 editorials for our online vehicle each year and still another handful for the print editions, I am not at all reluctant to admit that I sometimes arrive at Wednesday afternoon with no real idea of what I’ll lead off with on Thursday afternoon. This week, however, I had no such difficulties. I had to laugh when I saw a Boston-based newspaper headline that read, “Concord cops, K9s rescued after icy mishap.” Because the story involved the Coast Guard (at least peripherally) and also had a personal connection for me, I knew that I had my subject for the week. Beyond the humorous aspect of the watery tale, though, I was also reminded that the folks that we (me, too) collectively beat up on from time to time have a thousand-and-one missions; most of which they do pretty well.

Meanwhile, back in Concord, Massachusetts, and according to the Boston Herald, “Three police officers and two police K9s were rescued after they fell through ice covering a Concord pond while pursuing a suspect, a police source and the Coast Guard said.” Apparently, the ice gave way and eventually, the trio and the dogs managed to get to an island on Warners Pond where they waited for rescue. As it turns out, the Coast Guard was called to launch a helicopter in a rescue bid. In the end, the Coast Guard helicopter was about to launch from Air Station Cape Cod when it was stopped after a fire department boat rescued the stranded cops. A happy ending…

Concord is one of those towns where not much ever happens and thankfully the local boys in blue don’t have to draw their weapons. When I was growing up there, a busy night might involve a minor automobile accident and/or the breaking up of a teenage keg party where they’d force the offending parties to dump out all the beer and then send them all home with their tails between their legs. I was never at one of those parties: people talk; you hear things. Later, I remember coming home for my five year high school reunion and being oddly disturbed at who they had decided to issue a badge and gun to while I was off at school and at sea.

A little geography lesson here: Warners Pond – not to be confused with its larger and more famous cousin, Walden Pond – is a virtual puddle (comparatively speaking) in the formerly sleepy (now quite upscale) town of Concord. Locally pronounced "Cahncud"), the town is located about 25 miles west of Boston and another 1-1/2 hours from Cape Cod, where presumably, they were going to launch this multi-million dollar asset and burn a few thousand dollars worth of fuel to bail out the local law enforcement team.

The pond, created in the 1800’s when Nashoba Brook was dammed to generate power for a mill, over the years has been known to shrink and swell based on the amount of rain in a given year. Several known storm drains empty into Warner’s Pond and today, they’ve even got their own invasive species thing going on. On a personal note, I remember being forced by my parents to learn how to swim in the murky waters of Warners Pond. Touching bottom with your feet was always an adventure and this was to be avoided at all costs. Looking back, I don’t recall those lessons fondly. But, I’m getting off-track here.

It’s okay to smile now; everyone is safe and sound. Nevertheless, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when they made the telephone call to the Coast Guard for the helicopter intervention. And as silly as this particular story might seem, I’m going to bet there are about ten like it unfolding all across the fruited plain every day involving the Coast Guard. We get to see the most visible missions of the Coast Guard in the bright spotlight: Iraq, offshore Somalia, mariner licensing and documentation, aids to navigation, marine safety and yes – search-and-rescue, too. This even happens miles inland on a muddy little pond.

The formation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the absorption of the Coast Guard into this huge post-9/11 government department have created a certain line of demarcation, if you will. The multi-missioned nature of the Coast Guard continues to expand and along with it, the range of its responsibilities. To be fair, their budget has seen a bit of a bump up in recent years, too. And we hear only too loudly about the failures and hiccups; Deepwater, 123-foot defective patrol boats and more recently, delays in mariner documentation in West Virginia. Called on to do more in a more complicated world, it is not surprising that things sometimes do not go right. Usually, I think, they do get it right.

This week, you probably heard about another icy Coast Guard rescue operation involving as many as 150 people engaged in ice fishing on Lake Erie. Rescuers in helicopters lowered baskets onto the ice in order to lift some to safety while still others scrambled on board air boats that escaped across the ice to safety. This much more serious event is typical of the duties that the Coast Guard takes on regularly and with great competence. For myself, I’m going to try and remember this going forward as I report the news. You should, too.

The old adage spouted by former Coast Guard Commandant Jim Loy of “Doing more with less,” is perhaps not as true today as it was before the events of September 11th 2001. But today, with an expanded budget, they also tackle a wider menu of duties. In fact, I know of no other government agency or group tasked with so much, over so great a geographical area. Accordingly, it is often argued that a certain number of these duties might possibly be best delegated to another government sector. That’s a discussion for a different day, however. For now, I’m sleeping better at night knowing that the Cahncud Police Department has the Coast Gaahd on “speed dial.” They apparently need the help. – MarEx.

Read the article on the rescue by clicking: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1150596&srvc=rss

See a video of the event by clicking: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/02/09/grace.ma.officers.fall.icy.pond.whdh

Editor’s note: Warners Pond is said to be a little nicer these days than I remember it. There’s even some sort of “Save the Pond” thing going on. Fair enough, but I’m still not going swimming there, ever again. And, um, the crook got away. Managing Editor Joseph Keefe can be reached at [email protected] with comments on this or any other article in this e-newsletter.