Like I said.

Yes. I imagine there will be more news. One could reasonably suspect the National Security Cutter trials will be "carefully managed" given all the past media coverage.

I saw the story,made the USCG look bad at management.

Hopefully its not as bad as 60 minutes said.

quote:

Originally posted by chief74Ret:
I saw the story,made the USCG look bad at management.

Hopefully its not as bad as 60 minutes said.

That is true Chief. However, Kevin Jarvis, Captain (retired) had a lot to say that lambasted the Coast Guard and especially the contractors.

Bring back the 82 footers. give the contract to the people who built the last ones.

scrap the 110

quote:

Originally posted by chief74Ret:
Bring back the 82 footers. give the contract to the people who built the last ones.

scrap the 110

Good point Chief. The CG Yard built the 82 foot patrol boats. The CG Yard would give a much better deal than the Contractors.

source:
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/webcutters/point_ba...smilitarymuseums.org

J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp., Tacoma, WA built one I was on,good Boats/Cutters.

Saw it. 60 Minutes did their usual job of thinly veiled accusations, innuendos, and sensationalist yellow journalism, and semi-convinced watchers that the CG is a poorly managed and led group of washouts that is a drag on the hard-working taxpayers pocketbook, while implying that our Commandant was to cowardly to face them. Cute.
--Joe..

First thought after watching the segment was:

Well!!! This ain't pretty.

I have no love or trust in CBS. That said, the Puzzle Palace should never have let this happen and I have no doubt that the Officers tasked with monitoring - didn't do their job.

Reminds me of when we cross-decked the RESOLUTE to the ALERT at the Yard. Now. Tell me why it makes sense to have the TV in a berthing area secured to a bracket ABOVE and behind the bench seat that you would be sitting in to watch it??

No common sense was used in either of these two issues. The Yard cost was peanuts. National Security Cutters and the extended 110's are not.

I did find it interesting that CBS would not allow an unedited interview with the Commandant. CBS smelled fresh killed meat and was enjoying the gorge-fest and didn't want the Comdt to have the opportunity to poke them with a stick.

I served on the CITRUS when he was the CO, and he would have eaten them up.

Gordon,I agree, generally.
Two points; One, The Puzzle Palace it might be, but by God, it's OUR Puzzle Palace, no better nor worse than any HQ anywhere.
Two, Our Comandant didn't get where he is by being stupid. I do concur that matching any news media rep with him would be tantamount to leading that poor unfortunate rep to slaughter, and not a tidy one.
Addendum: Our military has fought and died for 200+ years, just so jerks can exercise their First Amendment rights....including me.

Sometimes, I wonder...nah. I don't.

--Joe..

ShaveanApe wrote:

quote:

Posted Sun 19 August 2007 07:49 PM Hide Post
Saw it. 60 Minutes did their usual job of thinly veiled accusations, innuendos, and sensationalist yellow journalism, and semi-convinced watchers that the CG is a poorly managed and led group of washouts that is a drag on the hard-working taxpayers pocketbook,

Joe, your defense of the CG is noble, but.... anyone who's ever run a purchase order will tell you that waste is SOP. The prices listed for NSN items are often 2-3 times what's charged at the corner store, yet we're told "the contract offers the lowest prices". (A DOD contractor was recently nailed for excess shipping, over 900K to ship 2 washers to an Army unit in Iraq.)

Every single unit has had the same complaint over the years - no money for necessities. But
God forbid there's extra money at the end of a quarter. If you can't spend every penny, the next quarter's budget gets lowered. So, a bunch of 'toys' or 'goodies' gets bought, just to ensure there might be money when it's really needed.

Waste is waste, no matter who is responsible. The USCG has managed to fly beneath the radar so far; now that funding is desperately needed for the additional tasks dumped on the CG, it's imperative that every dollar gets spent wisely.

As a former Contracting Officer and CWO4 F&S I can tell you that waste was never an issue in my departments.

No money for neccessities means poor planning to some degree - buy the need to have stuff first not the nice to have. The key is to load your spending plan with the need to have stuff, buy it right away, and ask for more money - always worked for my groups and cutters...

This was the same broadcast that appeared May 17, with the only update being an in-studio reference to the recent consolidated contractual action.

Contrary to CBS's assertion, we did not wait until after their story had been completed to offer to make Adm. Allen available for a live interview. As Adm. Allen states in this letter, that offer had been made to, and refused by, CBS earlier in the process.

For a look at how Adm. Allen does in a live interview on Deepwater, check out this CNN interview.

--Jeff

quote:

Originally posted by JTCuscg:
This was the same broadcast that appeared May 17, with the only update being an in-studio reference to the recent consolidated contractual action.

Contrary to CBS's assertion, we did not wait until after their story had been completed to offer to make Adm. Allen available for a live interview. As Adm. Allen states in this letter, that offer had been made to, and refused by, CBS earlier in the process.

For a look at how Adm. Allen does in a live interview on Deepwater, check out this CNN interview. --Jeff

Jeff, Admiral Allen really emphasized that the goal is to look forward and not backward. He appeared to make no mention about accountability for the 123 WPB and NSC project problems, but as he emphasized during the interview, the goal is to move forward and not backward.

Jeff, you should see the Deepwater board. There is a lot of mention about ACCOUNTABILITY. I answered a concern from a DCC about his concern that there was not going to be any accountability with the 123 WPB and the NSC problems.

see:
http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/681004513...241001#1040013241001

Jeff Carter,

I checked again the script of Admiral Allen's interview on CNN. Again, I see nothing in the script where Admiral Allen identifies any accountability or anybody responsible for the 110-123 WPB conversion gross errors.

Sincerely,
A.J.

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