To all,

I am just curious to know what an IS does on a day to day basis and if everyone enjoys their line of work. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks.

- Brian

Coming from 20 some years in a position of responsibility, performance and pride I have to say the job pretty much sucks.

80% of my job is admin, supply or doing whatever my 3 bosses need, 10% is deconflicting what those bosses need. All of my day is spent sitting at a desk.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lostmyfins,

quote:

Coming from 20 some years in a position of responsibility, performance and pride I have to say the job pretty much sucks.

Heck, if you already have 20 in why not put in your retirement letter?

...or, you can always say to yourself..."What the hell, it all counts towards 30."

How do you make sure a printer is "squared away"? Check the on off button? Fill the paper?

Sound like you have a lot of "down time"... No wonder we didn't have "IS" when I was in...

Wray...

It's a shame that someone like 'Lostmyfins' has to give the rest of the IS's in the CG a bad name. I know a ton of IS's that work hard everyday to support the short term and long term goals of the CG; whether it's providing strategic intelligence or immediately actionable law enforcement information to operational units out to sea; to collaboration with other member agencies of the Intelligence Community. The CG Intel rate may be fairly new, but it is taking off. Perhaps after serving 20 years in the CG, "Lostmyfins' could take some initiative in his position to positively contribute to his unit's mission, instead of waiting to be 'tasked.' Maybe it's his personal work ethic that's the real problem. To all my fellow IS's out there, let's keep up the good work.

I joined the FIST or now commonly known as Sector Intelligence Staff before the creation of the IS rate as an OS. I find the job to be quite unique and ever changing. The job allows me to work outside the realms of the Coast Guard with partner agencies(FBI/CBP/ICE/DEA/Local&StateLE) and gives me a broader view of the LEIE (Law Enforcement Intelligence Element) operations as it pertains to the big picture. It's much different than any other job I've done in the CG. If your an outside the box thinker and enjoy drilling down into raw data and information to find that nugget, the job can be rewarding and exciting. FIST is only one small aspect of CG Intel that I can comment on. So in a nut shell just like everything else, it's what you make of it.

Now as an OS that did not go IS the draw back to the job is I am now out of rate. Although I try to keep up with my rate specific knowledge, each day I don't use it, I lose it. Over all Intel is a good job. I'm glad I got to do it, might be one of my best tours but I look forward to getting back to my OS duties.

My day to day duties include:

Drafting up a Foreign Flagged Vessel Matrix: Report on current trends regarding last port of calls and crew make up.

Drafting of FIR's (Field Intelligence Reports) These are reports generated on a whole slew of events from suspicious activity to Officer safety concerns.

Source development: Go out and speak with the fisherman, FSO's (Facility Security Officers), Fish House managers, or anyone that may have valuable information with a maritime nexus. This type of Intel would be Human Intelligence, very valuable only if credible.

Liaison between partner agencies. Attend allot of meetings.

Assist CGIS (Coast Guard Investigative Service) in maritime investigations.

...just to name a few

This message has been edited. Last edited by: FISTPHILA,

Never really liked all of my job, but that will go for almost anyone. I can say this...the CG set me up well for a great civilian job. Being in intel landed me a job at one of the alphabet agencies and set me up very well. Some sacrifice is needed to get your long-term goals in place (this goes for anything). The IS rating is by no means a glorious job. There are little to no thanks in it. Expect very little recognition and no pats on the back. If you're an award seeker/need your ego stroked, the intel side is not the job you want.

On the positive side, it will give you many options if/when you move to the civilian side. I can personally back that claim up. Not trying to brag, but the pay went up exponentially even after the tax advantage in the military.

The CG needs to wake up and offer a real incentive to keep their intel folks in. The outside pay far trumps the military pay after taxes and all. It won't take long for members to realize this...

quote:

Originally posted by 67549015:
It's a shame that someone like 'Lostmyfins' has to give the rest of the IS's in the CG a bad name. I know a ton of IS's that work hard everyday to support the short term and long term goals of the CG; whether it's providing strategic intelligence or immediately actionable law enforcement information to operational units out to sea; to collaboration with other member agencies of the Intelligence Community. The CG Intel rate may be fairly new, but it is taking off. Perhaps after serving 20 years in the CG, "Lostmyfins' could take some initiative in his position to positively contribute to his unit's mission, instead of waiting to be 'tasked.' Maybe it's his personal work ethic that's the real problem. To all my fellow IS's out there, let's keep up the good work.

Maybe I was too broad 67549015, what I should have said is that my position sucks. I cannot speak for the rest of the rate. I have spoken to several other IS members who have shared my same sentiment. However, as seen by some of the other posts, it sounds like some Is’s are enjoying the job.

I think it’s important to express the good and positive about the rate, especially since a CG member is inquiring. I will try to refrain from any more broad strokes and be specific regarding my unique perspective. It is unfortunate my perspective has been clouded by the worst leadership I’ve seen in 20 years; likely the product of empire building and homesteading, which in turn created an environment of entitlement, superiority, turfs, defensiveness and worst of all…..that idea the IS role is to administratively support the civilian element. Trust me, you don’t want my job. Hopefully, it will sort itself out with new blood and someone senior to me will have the cajones to make it right. I’ll be long gone by then.

To 67549015, I would say my career speaks for itself. I doubt anyone in the IS rate has sacrificed or put more heart and soul into the Coast Guard than myself which makes it all the more frustrating. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who I am or where I came from, so feel free to look me up if you ever want to compare work ethic and heart.

Based on my experience as an IS, I cannot imagine a worst job in the Coast Guard.

I typically don't respond to or post on the Forums here. Most of the time there is just sarcasm and bickering. But this is one of the rare occasions I feel like chiming in. Unless you know him personally some of the comments to Lostmyfins are mere speculation and uncalled for. It sounds like he has had a long and productive career. Unfortunately all of us has gotten a raw deal now and then.

That being said, this a prime example of the Coast Guard and its members not really understanding what Intel is all about. Before I joined the Coast Guard, I did Intel in the Marines. So I had a pretty good idea what to expect when they created the Intel Rate.

Many in the Coast Guard think that Intel is Tom Clancy stuff that has lots of action and excitement. I have heard many think it is about covert operations, not wearing a uniform, and wearing a badge and a gun. A mixture of CGIS, FIST, CSI, and NCIS. If that is what your expecting you will be disappointed. Many guys that are operational and love excitement would be crawling the walls within a few months.

When I think of Intel, I picture someone deep in a vault behind a computer or several computers with books and manuals stacked up on the corners of the desk. Intel is about research, information, tactical doctrine (on our side and the enemy's). I sum it up to a research or term paper that is never done. It is about taking reports from all sorts of collection assets, reading the reports, thinking about what it all means, and then writing your own report and assessment. There is no glory, you will always be underappreciated.

Think about it, you figure out what the bad guy is going to do and report it. This generates an operational plan so we increase our presence in the area. The bad guy sees the increased presence and decides to wait. It looks like you were wrong, when in fact you were right on. Or based on the information you had you predicted something, one of the deciding factors change, like a storm or they had an emergency and decided to wait a week before engaging in that activity, there again you are the one looking like a shmuck. I once had an Intel Instructor make the statement: "There are only two jobs in the world where you can be wrong %50 of the time and still keep your job-Weatherman and Intel Analyst."

What I am saying is it takes a certain personality type to do this job. I think it is a mistake to have field agents in the same rate as analysts. They are two entirely different personality types. But it is nice to have the operational experience on the Analyst side.

You can expect several things in this rate. It is a small rate so it is more competitive for promotion and not a lot of locations for duty stations. There will be a lot of times of mundane day to day, with short periods of excitement. If your FIST or CI then you will be out of the office a lot, but you will be typing up a lot of reports. And sorry you will never be helo'd out to a sub to intercept a Russian sub (we'll leave that to the DOG ;p). But on the flip side you get privy to a lot of operational information nobody else has, you get to try to figure out what the bad guys are doing, and there is satisfaction when you do figure out what the bad guy is doing and because of your intel they get caught (though you will probably not get any of the credit). You kinda remain in the shadows and are obscure and you don't get a lot of credit, so glory hounds and award seekers probably would be happy. It is better for us to be low key, because if we weren't we would be a target.

I hope this kind of explains it in a nutshell, Lostmyfins-sorry you experienced some bad leadership. There is politics throughout the rates and the Coast Guard. It is part of the nature of the Bureaucratic beast. It happens in all services and even in the civilian sector. The only thing you can do is make the best of it and handle your own business. That is my two cents for what it is worth.

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Based on my experience as an IS, I cannot imagine a worst job in the Coast Guard.

I'll be more blunt than someone else - than freaking retire and let someone else move up. I believe you ASKED to be an IS. Man up shipmate.

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Originally posted by Mightyz90_93:

quote:

Based on my experience as an IS, I cannot imagine a worst job in the Coast Guard.

I'll be more blunt than someone else - than freaking retire and let someone else move up. I believe you ASKED to be an IS. Man up shipmate.

I'll take blunt any day over lies, never been one to mince my words either. I've always been that guy who will tell you your breath stinks, some appreciate it, and others don't.

Never had a problem with manning-up MC, retirement letter already in - and doing my time.

Make sure Intelligence is the correct fit, so you don't end up like me ****ed off in middle-age, sowing seeds of discontent over at the water cooler. I feel both foolish and conned. I'm sure these last 2 years have taken off 10.

Incidentally MC, if quitting is your definition of manning up, then you fit in neatly with the group I work with. The world I came from and where my character still resides, manning up has a much different meaning, something few understand and even less can achieve.

Horace Greeley once said, "Those who cheer you today will curse you tomorrow". “Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.”

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Never had a problem with manning-up MC, retirement letter already in - and doing my time.

Well, Man up and let us know who we are talking to.... as you said, you don't "mince words" and your retirement letter is in.. what do you have to loose?

Wray...

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Based on my experience as an IS, I cannot imagine a worst job in the Coast Guard.

I had to use a paint scraper to remove a 200+ pound hairball from a turbid water tank on a 378 WHEC. Next.

quote:

Originally posted by EMC_:

quote:

Based on my experience as an IS, I cannot imagine a worst job in the Coast Guard.

I had to use a paint scraper to remove a 200+ pound hairball from a turbid water tank on a 378 WHEC. Next.

Well crap, there goes breakfast!

I like my job.

It is just like any job in the Military. It has its days.

I'm happy.
IS3 G&R

quote:

It is just like any job in the Military. It has its days.

It's like any other job period. Civilian or military, there are the good days and the bad ones.

I there is anyone who really doesn't like there job, I can hook you up.
ISCM Paul
IS RFMC

quote:

Originally posted by Ex_CG_GM:

quote:

It is just like any job in the Military. It has its days.

It's like any other job period. Civilian or military, there are the good days and the bad ones.

Great point, thank you. I'd rather have a bad day in the USCG than in any civilian sector. but that's just me....