The Coast Guard is offering an unprecedented $100,000 bonus to retain its elite rescue swimmers as recruiting and retention challenges continue to plague the branch.
“In my near 25-year career in the Coast Guard, there has never been a bonus of any kind that I know of for the aviation survival technicians,” former chief petty officer David Kroll told The Epoch Times, having spent 22 years of a nearly 25-year career as a rescue swimmer. The Epoch Times confirmed that there was no bonus offered to rescue swimmers at the same pay grade in fiscal years 2023 and 2022.
According to Mr. Kroll, the reason retention hasn’t suffered in the past is because the Coast Guard has never had a problem finding individuals who are interested in becoming a rescue swimmer, and it’s often easy to maintain those who do. “The job is one of its kind and it’s a very fulfilling position,” he said.
“The bigger challenge,” Mr. Kroll said, “has always been getting people to successfully make it through the school [for rescue swimmers] because it’s such a challenging school.” According to him, there’s an 80 percent attrition rate.
Problems with recruiting and retention escalated with a 2021 COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the Coast Guard.
Rocky Rogers, a former Coast Guard IT chief with more than 20 years of service, was one such member impacted by the mandate. He chose to retire from service in 2022 after refusing to get the jab.
Because of the once-mandated COVID-19 vaccine, “many of us were pushed out, and many retired,” said Mr. Rogers. He, like many others who refused to get the vaccine, believes that the mandate was not a lawful order.
“There’s never been a document shared with anybody that states that it was a lawful order. It was just a memo from [Secretary of Defense] Lloyd Austin,” he said.
Coast Guard Media Relations told the publication that “when the body-to-billet ratio falls below 95 percent, it is considered critical.” The spokesperson added, “The AST Rating is currently at 84% strength.”
The $100,000 bonus “sounds good,” but Mr. Rogers is concerned that the swimmers who fall in the category of 17 to 21 may not be at operational status anymore. “Once somebody makes chief (E-7) in that 17- to 21-year timeframe, many make the choice whether or not they want to stay operational or not,” he said. “Maybe the bonus is to entice people to remain operational while the numbers are down.”
Mr. Kroll said, “It’s frustrating because you’ve punished one group of people [for their religious objection to the vaccine], and now because you’ve lost those people, you’re going to more or less reward others.” For him, “it almost feels like bribery.”
Mr. Rogers suspects it will take 10-15 years before rescue swimmers are no longer at a critical rate.
Despite his apprehension about the bonus and the future of rescue swimmers, he still hopes “there’s a lot of people that can actually take advantage of this and advance their careers and financial situations.”
What’s more, he warned that there’s nothing that prevents the Coast Guard from mandating another vaccine in the years ahead. “If you get kicked out for objecting to it, or for any other reason, that bonus is going to have to be paid back in a pro-rated amount because of the obligation to four years of service.”
Mr. Kroll agreed, contending the offer is “a gamble under the current leadership.”
“Considering everything I’ve seen in recent years,” he said, “I’d be hard-pressed to want to be part of the Coast Guard unless there is a change in leadership.”
