{"id":14843,"date":"2019-03-21T21:55:58","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T21:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/03\/21\/commandant-coast-guard-nears-readiness-tipping-point\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:46:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:46:57","slug":"commandant-coast-guard-nears-readiness-tipping-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/03\/21\/commandant-coast-guard-nears-readiness-tipping-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Commandant: Coast Guard nears readiness \u2018tipping point\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The head of the U.S. Coast Guard<\/a> said Thursday that his fleet is at a readiness \u201ctipping point,\u201d waiting for new vessels to replace an aging fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increasingly, personnel are being asked to do more around the world with aging platforms and infrastructure, Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz<\/a> said during the 2019 State of the Coast Guard<\/a> address from Base Los Angeles-Long Beach<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur people answer the call, every single day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like his fellow military service chiefs, Schultz indicated in his roughly 45-minute speech that the key to modernizing the Coast Guard is a steady level of funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schultz said the Coast Guard must deal with a deferred maintenance and infrastructure backlog that exceeds $1.7 billion. Modernizing infrastructure is particularly challenging because his facilities pepper the globe, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs Congress makes tough fiscal decisions and looks at the best ways to spend the nation\u2019s precious resources, there\u2019s not a better return on investment in government than the United States Coast Guard,\u201d said Schultz, who assumed the duties of the 26th Commandant of the United States Coast Guard on June 1, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\t