Page 18: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (Q1 2012)

Stosz goes on to describe her deep respect for enlisted per- sonnel, some of which stems directly from her twelve years spent at sea. ?What I came to understand at Cape May is that these are usually young, vulnerable people from different backgrounds and they are going to be the future of the Coast Guard. But, you?ve only got eight short weeks to do it right for them. This type of ?servant? leadership delivers a dedicated service member; someone who wants to become part of some- thing bigger than themselves. These recruits will be retained longer than those ?trained by the hammer.? I bring along all of that to the Coast Guard Academy. You learn to put the people you are leading at the center.? Stosz also points to the fact that Coast Guard enlisted per- sonnel, as a group, typically test better than their peers in other services. She adds, ?You can?t look down on a workforce that is increasingly sophisticated and instead, you have to provide better leadership. Today, we promote a strong core of mutual respect between enlisted personnel and of Þ cers. That starts here at the Academy.? Changing Curriculum: Changing Attitudes ADM Robert Papp took the reins of the Coast Guard about oneyear before Stosz took charge at the Coast Guard Acad- emy. At the time, he ruf ß ed a few feathers when he declared that sea time for Coast Guard personnel, while not an absolute requirement, was to be considered something that every of- Þ cer should have. In a service with such a wide range of mis- sion sets, not everyone agreed with that edict. Stosz, however ? and herself with 12 years at sea, including command of two cutters ? couldn?t agree more. She told Marpro , ?The value of sea time is indisputable. It goes back to traditions, the history and the very character of the Coast Guard itself. We?re a sea- going service; a maritime service. And we do give our cadets and ofÞ cer candidates sea experience throughout their time on board ? as a minimum, 16 weeks of underway time while cadets. Once they graduate as ensigns, we?re still sending the vast majority of those of Þ cers (as much as 85 percent) to sea- going billets. The value of that shared experience; the ward- room, the technical experience, all of it, cannot be overstated.? At all of the maritime schools and not just the Coast Guard Academy, the curriculum has had to adjust to re ß ect profound changes on the waterfront. For example, less than one-half of state maritime academy graduate now obtain merchant mari- ner licenses. At the Coast Guard Academy itself, perhaps the two biggest concerns in terms of evolving skill sets has to be the need for competent marine safety and credentialing per- sonnel and a heightened understanding of the Coast Guard?s increased maritime security role. Stosz addresses the chal- lenges pragmatically. ?We have established programs to get our cadets out into the real world, to get commercial training that provides the nec- essary familiarization. This includes a program which allows cadets to leave the academy with a record of their training and experience that could lead them towards a license. We are not able ? like the maritime academies ? to provide for a full license experience in four years. It just isn?t possible with all the other requirements we have for our candidates. And a lot of our people would like to get a license, but it falls into some- times the ?too hard? locker when you?ve got multiple other missions to accomplish.? Stosz continues, ?It?s more than the license. It?s getting an appreciation for what that entails and making it part of their curriculum. That includes ship structure and naval architec- ture, laboratory work that teaches how to get a ship off the beach (salvage), complex engineering behind unloading, etc. That class is being added. We also have a ship rider program. Our program is based upon the one for junior of Þ cers from the inspection divisions and sectors and we?re bringing that right back to the cadets. The AWO MOU allows our students to get out there on brown water boats and start the process of acquiring necessary credentials to become a certi Þ ed USCG inspector.? The homeland Security focus is a little harder. Stosz ad- mits, ?No speciÞ c training has necessarily been added to the curriculum, but where the cadet would actually see that is in their summer training programs. They are going out to not just ships, but our 3rd and 2nd class cadets are going out to sectors and seeing that port security through the eyes of the Maritime Port Security Units.? Stosz admits, ?No speci Þ c training has necessarily been added to the curriculum, but where the cadet would actually see that is in their summer training programs. They are going out to not just ships, but our 3rd and 2nd class cadets are going out to sectors and seeing that port security through the eyes of the Maritime Port Security Units.? Stosz also points to another area where the Academy has taken a lead role in certain security issues. The nascent Mari- time Center for Strategy and Policy and Maritime Security, a Coast Guard ?center of excellence,? is now standing up at the academy. In April, an Arctic Symposium will touch upon safety, SAR, and security issues in the Arctic. She explains, ?The academy brings the academic perspective to these issues and the symposium brings the outside world to our cadets.? Full Circle: Steady Helm in Changing Seas A 1982 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, a thirty-year careerhas brought RADM Stosz full circle back to where her college education Þ rst began. Along the way, the academy it- self has seen many changes, all of which Stosz aptly puts into perspective. ?I came into the academy 34 years ago in 1978 ? that was a generation ago ? let?s put this in context. Since then, we?ve had OPA 90, the Magnusun Fisheries Act, 9/11, hurricane Katrina, Deepwater Horizon, Desert Storm and the current con ß icts. We?ve been involved in all of that. What I?m trying to convey is that our mission has expanded since 1978 United States Coast Guard Academy 18 | Maritime Professional |1Q 2012